We read the word of God this morning, the first chapter of Job. Job chapter one, and our text will be verses four and five. Let's read the first chapter of the book of Job. 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. His substance also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels, and 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there 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 askeweth evil? And then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away, yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the fire of God has fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word. And the text, verses 4 and 5. And Job's sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day. and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and curse God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Beloved congregation, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Book of Job is God's answer to the question, why do the righteous suffer? Why is it that the righteous suffer? And also, what must be the response of God's children when they do suffer? In the Book of Job, God teaches Job and God teaches all of us that He is sovereign, that He never is the author of sin, let alone that He compels men to sin, but God is sovereign and He may do as He pleases. Now here in the opening verses of this chapter we read about this righteous man Job. We read of the prosperity of Job, more than likely the wealthiest man alive during his time. And the time in which Job lived was probably very early on in the Old Testament. We don't know exactly when, but probably around the same time as Abraham. And the book of Job here in the beginning teaches us about the righteousness of Job, the Holy Spirit, doing that in a general way in verse one, that there was a man who was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. And you can't think about hardly anything better to say about a man than saying that, that he was perfect, not that he was sinless. but that he was complete. He was upright in all his earthly conversation. He feared God truly and sincerely from the depths of his heart, with all his heart, with all his soul and mind, strength. And he spit out evil. That means he eschewed it And he didn't want to have anything to do with any sin, any wickedness, any evil at all. And this righteousness of Job also showed itself in one particular way, an example taken out of the home life of Job, an example of his family life. And that's what we read, what he did in verse 5 with regard to his children. he sent and sanctified them. And this is how the righteousness of this man Job shows itself. That he loved his children, that he gave himself for them, and that he recognized their sinfulness and that he deal with that sinfulness in the right way and that right way was bringing it to God and offering sacrifices for them. And this is something that the Word of God reveals to us that this righteous man Job had a vital interest in the spiritual welfare of his children. And we see that here, right here in the opening verses of Job chapter 1. He had a healthy interest in the spiritual welfare of his children. And people of God, is that the impression that we leave with others? That they can see how we parent our children by the words that we say, by the actions that we perform, and they say, boy, those parents It's so evident that they have a care and a concern for the spiritual welfare of their children. Is that what people know about us? Is that what people think about when they see your family? The vows that Ian and Elena have taken this morning are really no different from what we have here in the text and what we see Job doing. That Ian and Elena have promised to intend, to see to it, to the utmost of their power that not only Cade, but also their children are reared in the word of God and that their child and all of their children are taught to be holy children. And in that vow and in so doing, Ian and Elena, and all of us as godly parents, and we as members of this church, follow this righteous example of Job. The theme of our sermon, sanctifying our children. From Job 1, 4, and 5, let's note the necessity of it. Secondly, the manner. How did Job do that? How did he sanctify his children? And finally, the urgency. Sanctifying our children. When Job regularly thought about his children and how he dealt with them, but He thought about them and he dealt with them with a firm recognition that his children needed to be sanctified. He saw that his children were sinful children. Now that raises an apparent problem because parents in the church of Jesus Christ and here in this church. Parents here at Emmanuel PRC who present their children for baptism testify that their children are holy. And then it raises the question, well, how do we view our children? Do we take the view of our children as that old English Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, that the children of believing parents are nothing but a brood of vipers and snakes? Or do we say that our children are sanctified in Christ, redeemed by His blood, and therefore are holy? Now there is an apparent difficulty, I say apparent because there is a scriptural answer to it, but there is an apparent difficulty in whatever way you view your children. If you view the children of believing parents as a brood of vipers, that simply have to be regenerated and converted and be turned unto God, and yes, that is true, but if you view them that way, then you face immediately the testimony of the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 14, now are your children holy. And at least for those who confess the Reformed faith, you also face the witness of the first question of baptism that's asked to parents, whether you acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin, yet that they are sanctified in Christ. All right, so there's that on the one hand, but then on the other hand, if you view your children as holy and sanctified, Well, then you have the testimony of Job here in the book of Job to the unholiness of his children, and therefore to the unholiness of our children, because after all, Job regularly making sacrifices to sanctify them. And so we say, well, which is it? Are they holy or are they not holy? And the answer is that our children, the children of believers, are holy children. Now, we have to understand that properly. By virtue of their being regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, by virtue of their being redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ, they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit so that our children are holy. through the remission of sins that the Spirit applies through them, that the blood of Jesus Christ being shed for them, our children are holy, even as children, even as infants. And now there's no question about it that among us as Reformed people, when we've heard it dozens of times, and that the parents answer the questions yes, And we heard it this morning, the question put to Ian and Elena, do you believe that although our children are conceived and born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, yet that they are sanctified in Christ? To be sanctified means to be holy. Do you believe that they are sanctified, that they are holy? And the answer the parents gave, was yes and we confirm the same by our presence in our witnessing of the sacrament and that's based on the Word of God given in 1st Corinthians 7 verse 14 that I referred to a little earlier where the Apostle Paul says to the believing man who has an unbelieving wife or to the believing wife who has an unbelieving husband your children are holy And they are holy by virtue of the covenant of grace that God establishes with them. Now, we continue to understand this properly, that this does not mean that every single child of believing parents is holy. This is something that even our own experience teaches us and also the testimony of the Word of God so that when God in Scripture calls the children holy, He's not referring to every single child of believing parents necessarily, but God is referring to the elect among them. He is referring to all of those whom He has chosen from time and eternity, who He has incorporated, given to Jesus Christ, incorporated to be members of His body, and for whom alone Jesus Christ has shed His blood. And those elect children are the children that God gives. to believing parents. And so that's how we view our children and that's how we rear the children that it pleases God to give us as elect children of God. Now our children are holy but at the very same time our children need to be made holy. They need to be sanctified because they are sinful children. Now here, maybe that, maybe somebody says, well, that's a little puzzling to me. You're saying that our children are holy, but that they need to be made holy? You're saying that our children are sanctified, but that they need to be sanctified? And the answer to that question is yes with this explanation that. Sanctification is a process. It doesn't happen once, but throughout our life. Our children are sanctified in principle as the children of God, and they must be sanctified until the day that they die. They must continually grow and mature in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we all must do. Growing up in the Lord Jesus Christ unto the measure of a perfect man, growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And now Job recognized this in his own children that there was this unholiness, that there was this depravity in them. And with regard to these children of Job, we read that it was their custom to go about feasting, and these children took turns at the homes of the sons in their great feasting. We don't know how often this occurred, but the fact is that they did it. And it was especially during these times of the year when these sons and daughters of Job would gather together in their feasting, which greatly concerned Job, because this would be the time especially that they would be engaged in sin, feasting and celebrating. And Job said, I must sacrifice for my children because I realize that they are sinful children. And we learn this about Job right away, that he wasn't one of those parents who say about his children, well they don't do evil, not my kids. My kids would never do that. Sometimes there are parents like that. And for us it goes something like this, whether it's a call from the principal, whether it's a call from the neighbors, or perhaps even with older children, a visit from the elders, all regarding something that the child or our children have done, and when we instantly take the side of our children and vehemently disagree with anything that is said against them, and when we would say, my child would never do that, they couldn't do that, there's no way, there's no way, not my child. Job wasn't that kind of a parent. Job recognized that in his children there was sin. And that's all the more striking because Job doesn't know of any specific sin that they committed. He wasn't as if he visited their homes when they were feasting and engage in whatever sort of revelry there was. No doubt they engage in lots of sin, but Job says in the text, it may be that my sons have sinned in their hearts. It may well be. So then on Job's part, he was simply recognizing the sinful natures that his children had. And it's all the more striking when we read of what Job thought what they might have done. In verse 5, it may be that my sons have cursed God in their hearts. And that's a very powerful statement. That's the worst thing that a child could ever do when we think about all of the sins that our children are capable of and that they ever could do. That my sons, my daughters would curse God, would blaspheme His name, treat His name as something that's very common, and behave themselves that way toward God. Job did not fail to see that his children were actively sinful and that there was the possibility that together in their feasting and drinking that they would curse God in their hearts. And so we too, beloved congregation, we acknowledge and we recognize the sinfulness of our children. before they're able to do any good, before they can talk back to us, before they can walk. We recognize the sinfulness of our children. We know that what God gives them is that new heart in God's good time, but we know what we give our children, that sinful human nature passed on from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And we recognize this sinful nature in all our children. And we read that Job sent and sacrificed and offered burnt offerings, verse five, according to the number of them all. Job didn't say about his children, well, this one over here is a rebel and really is the hard one, but this one over here is really a compliant one and I'm gonna really focus all my prayers and my spiritual effort on this less compliant one, no. but according to the number of them all. And there's important instruction for us here that we recognize that in all our children, whether the difficult ones or the easy ones, but every one of them needs a sacrifice for their sins. And Job knew then what he must do. Job must must sacrifice and sanctify his children. And that's what the text says in verse 5. And in so doing, we see that Job doing three things. In the first place, he called them. That is, he sent for them. So that after their feasting was ended, Job himself was not there, but Job sent a messenger to them for them to appear at his house. He sent for them and called them, so that he did not ignore them, but he sent for them. And then secondly, Job sanctified them. Job sanctified them, which means that that word sanctified means to cleanse them. And it's a word that refers to both a real cleansing with water, and a kind of a ceremonial cleansing. And Job was telling his children to wash themselves in this outward ceremonial way, to sanctify themselves. And we know that Job was telling his children to wash themselves in this ceremonial way, and in thus doing to sanctify themselves, because there are other portions of scripture that use this word sanctify in that same way, to cleanse oneself. And I'll give one other scripture passage to prove that point, which is Exodus chapter 19, verse five. Exodus 19, verse five. chapter before the law of God, Exodus 20, the Israelites on Mount Sinai, and God says to Moses, on the third day I will come down inside of all of the people, and now Exodus 19 is verse 10, Exodus 19 verse 10, and the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes. Now the intention wasn't for them to do two entirely separate activities. First place to sanctify themselves and then secondly to go out and to wash their clothes. No, but they sanctified themselves by washing their clothes in this ceremonial way. And it's through this verse in Exodus and other passages like it, referring to physical washing. But the spiritual meaning is clear, that no one can appear in the presence of God without being washed, without being cleansed. And then in the third place, Job sent. He sacrificed, or sanctified, and now Job says to his children, and now it's time to sacrifice. And afterward, Job went to offer burnt offerings before the face of God. So he sent, and he sanctified, And he sacrificed for his children. And all of this means that he separated his children from the world and he consecrated them to God. And now comes the hard question. Do we make our children holy? Do we sanctify our children? Because after all, let's do justice to the words of the text. The words of the text is that Job sent for them, Job sanctified them. How do we understand that? Job sanctified them. Well, understand that we cannot make our children holy. We cannot separate them from sin. We cannot consecrate them to God. We don't have access to their hearts. We don't change their hearts from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh that now beats in love for God. But this is the work of God alone, this is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, to wash them from their sins, to make them to be sons and daughters that love the Lord. The Holy Spirit does that, that work. And in all of Job's activity, in his praying for his children, in his sending for his children and sanctifying them and sacrificing for them, Job was doing that on the basis of the cross of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, which is to come. But even knowing that there was that forgiveness through the mediator to come, that did not prevent Job yet from doing all of these things, which was his responsibility to do. So that yes, we have the calling to sanctify our children and we do sanctify our children in this sense that we as parents, especially parents, but all of us, but that we as parents are instruments in the hand of God to sanctify our children. Our calling is to rear them in holiness, And that means that we point out to them their calling and we do what we are able to do outwardly so that they are separated from sin and so that they are drawn closer to God. But only in that sense can we say that we sanctify our children. We sanctify our children only as we are instruments in the hand of God himself. But how do we do that? How do we then sanctify our children being used and guided and led by the hand of God? Well, in the first place, it's right here in the sacrament of baptism. godly parents honoring this sacrament that Jesus Christ gave to the church. This is the very first act publicly of parents separating your children from sin, consecrating them to Jehovah because in baptism this is the sign of sanctification. The sprinkling with water, the sign of the washing away of sins. It's the sign of separation. What the Belgic Confession teaches us, a sign that we're different, that we bear the sign of baptism. You sanctify them by honoring the sacrament and the words of Jesus and by submitting your children for baptism in the Christian church. In the second place, You sanctify your children by seeing to it that they are members of a good Christian church, a reformed, biblical, godly, Christian church, and that they remain members of such a church. Because one of the most important means that parents use to sanctify their children is by their membership in a sound, congregation that preaches the Word of God and that catechizes the children and that brings that Word of God faithfully, the Word of Jesus Christ, that it is not of him that laboreth nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. And God uses that preaching through the power of the Holy Spirit to give us grace, to give us faith, and to make us and our children holy. In the third place, we sanctify the children by rearing them in godliness in our own Christian homes. And that's very important for us as parents. And that's why we have family visitation once a year, one of the reasons at least. And that family visitation season will soon be upon us, the Lord willing, in October. But when the elders have the privilege to come into your homes and ask how it's going, and it's our prayer as elders that your homes are the kind that are conducive to holiness. for the children, that it's a peaceful home where there is harmony, where there are devotions, where there is music that is good music. and not miserable music, but where there is a spiritual atmosphere in the home that is conducive to talking about spiritual things. It's the rearing in the home that God uses in large measure for the holiness of his children in this life. And finally, beloved, in the last place, the urgency of the matter, the urgency of the sanctification of our children. This is a very urgent matter when we consider how the years fly by. when we consider that these children who are now baptized will only in a few years be so much taller, and eventually if the Lord, Terry, will be teenagers and young adults and marry and have children of their own, we don't want to waste precious time seeking our own carnal pursuits. But this is an urgent matter, and therefore, beloved, don't be a lazy parent. You know what kind of attitude that lazy parents have? Spiritually lazy now. They have this type of an attitude. God is the one who sanctifies my children and therefore I don't have any part in this at all. I'm going to sit back. I'm going to take it easy. After all, I don't want to interfere with the work that God's going to do with these children. We shake our heads at that type of thinking. That is a very foolish and ignorant parent indeed, as if I can appeal to God's sovereignty over my children and suddenly that now resolves me of any responsibility to rear my children, the children God has given unto me in the fear of His name. Such a parent doesn't realize that God uses parents as instruments in His almighty hand for the sanctification. of the children. Job saw how urgent a matter this was, the sanctification of his children. The text tells us in two different ways. In the first place, Job arose early in the morning. Job was a busy man. Lots of other things that he could be doing. After all, he was one of the richest if not the richest man in the entire world, probably at this time. But such was his love for his children. Such was the urgency of the matter that he arose early to sacrifice on behalf of his children unto God because he couldn't wait any longer. It had to be done now. And people of God, are we those who rise early in the morning because we are so vitally interested in the spiritual welfare of our children? Now, that doesn't mean that we physically have to wake up early. It doesn't exclude that, though, and that we pray and that we have our devotions. But do you see the urgency? Do you see that your children's holiness cannot wait? Do you rear them even when they are little babies? Do you teach them how to pray? Do you sing with them? Do you make sure that you lead by your good example? And do you make sure that when you sin, you say, what I did was wrong. And when they sin, what you did is wrong. And now let's go together to the cross of Jesus Christ to find forgiveness and cleansing through his blood. For Job, this was a matter that was urgent and he must take action. And he arose early in the morning. And so in that regard, don't be a spiritually lazy parent and say, well, my child is too young. Well, my child is too old. Well, it's out of my hands. I can't change anything. And that parent does nothing and sleeps in. But for Job, the matter was urgent and he arose early. In the second place, our children's sanctification is an urgent matter because of what we read at the end of verse 5. Those last words. He didn't do this just once. He didn't do it one morning. He didn't offer burnt offerings for his children. Every once in a while, when he got around to it, when time permitted. Thus did Job continually. And that's somewhat striking because these children of his were grown children. These weren't young toddlers, infants, even little teenagers, but these were grown children, married perhaps. They were mature. They were able to be on their own. They were out of the house. And yet Job regularly looks on them and prays for them that they may be holy. And Job recognized that his children needed that work of God. Our children's sanctification, therefore, is an urgent matter. Let us pray for our children, whether they are newly baptized children or grown, mature, adult children, and let us never stop having a spiritual interest in their holiness and their spiritual welfare. And then perhaps we will rise up early and we will get on our knees and we will pray, Lord God, use the feeble efforts of us as parents for the sanctification of the children, overrule our sins and faults, that they would not be a stumbling block for our children to receive the truth and be pleased to separate our children from the children of the world, that they may be a sanctified people. Give them the Holy Spirit and cleanse them through the blood of Jesus Christ. To do so is to follow this godly example of Job. May God give us the grace to do so and to do so continually. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. Apply it to our hearts. We pray for grace, that we may be diligent in all of the work Thou hast set before us, especially in raising the covenant seed, that we would not be lazy and slothful, but that we may be very active in this regard in bringing our children to the cross of Jesus Christ and seeking remission and redemption through His blood alone. Keep and preserve all of thy church. Keep and preserve our children, thy covenant children, and give unto us hearts that love thee and that love the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all this in his name alone. Amen. We sing Psalter number 213. The versification of Psalm 78, stanza 2, instructing our sons we gladly record praises the works, the might of the Lord, for he hath commanded that what he hath done be passed in tradition from father to son. Let's sing stanzas one, two, and three. The first three stanzas, Psalter number 213. Thy people live here, attend to thy word. In them the most beauteous fruit shall be brewed. and singing by us must be shown. In standing our side, we gladly report, in tradition from father to son. Let children us learn from history's line, in this night, the God of their fathers to hear and obey and bear like their fathers to turn from His way. ♪ As we behold our Father's blood ♪ ♪ He's an offering of peace ♪ ♪ To all the earth submit ♪ ♪ In its great and glorious day ♪ ♪ Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be and abide with you all. Amen.