Applications

Recap of Biblical Tribute to Godly Motherhood

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 25, 1997, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, two Lord's Days ago, on the day designated in our national life as Mother's Day, I preached a sermon entitled, A Biblical Tribute to the Noble Task of Godly Motherhood. And after explaining what I meant by those three couplets of words, A Biblical Tribute to the Noble Task of Godly Motherhood, I spent but a few minutes giving a basis or warrant for such a tribute, and then we spent the bulk of our time considering three facets of a biblical tribute to godly motherhood, in which I sought to open up, five of the watershed texts in the New Testament which address the subject of godly motherhood. Now, I cannot re-preach those texts, and we have a number of visitors here who were not here for the exposition. And I'd love to go back over those texts, but I cannot. They are available in the tape, in the lending library, and in the Trinity pulpit.

1:25 Suffice it to say that as we opened up those texts, the three heads, were these. Godly motherhood is the appointed path of persevering faith. The text that we addressed under that heading was 1 Timothy 2, and verse 15. I shall simply read it without comment.

1:46 But she shall be saved through her childbearing, if they continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety. According to the Bible, According to the Bible, According to this text, godly motherhood is the appointed path of persevering faith. Secondly, godly motherhood secures the credible witness of the church and of its message. And here we examine two texts, also from the pastoral epistles.

2:20 Titus chapter 2, verses 3 to 5, where Paul instructs Titus that he is, in turn, to instruct the various churches, categories of people within the church, and with respect to the aged women, he is to instruct them, verse 3 of Titus 2, to be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers, nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good, in order that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, and here is the great concern of the apostle, in order that the word of God be not blasphemed. Here, godly motherhood and wifehood, among other things, are linked in with the credible witness of the church and of its message. And that same emphasis comes through the apostle's pen in 1 Timothy chapter 5, where, giving directions to widows, he addresses the younger widows, and says in verse 14 of 1 Timothy 5, I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household,

3:42 give no occasion to the adversary for reviling. So the great concern of the apostle is that the adversary, who according to verse 15, is none other than the devil himself, Satan, which means, the adversary is constantly looking for occasions to undermine the credibility of the witness and message of the church of Christ. And the apostle says that godly motherhood is intimately bound up with the maintenance of true credibility. And then we saw thirdly, that godly motherhood is a major means of molding future men of God. And we looked at two texts, again in the pastoral epistles, 2 Timothy chapter 1, where Paul, writing to Timothy, says in verse 3, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasing is my remembrance of you in my supplications, night and day longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy, having been reminded of the unfeigned faith, the unhypocritical faith, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice,

5:06 and I am persuaded in you also. And here Paul indicates that Timothy's faith is a faith that comes in the line of the godly grandmother and mother, and later on in this very epistle, he says in chapter 3 in verse 14, abide in the things that you have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them, and that from a babe, a brephos, a nursing babe, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation. And as we traced out some of the history of Timothy, bringing to bear upon these two passages the information of Acts 16, he had an unconverted great father, but he had a godly mother, and a godly grandmother, and no little part of explaining the character of Timothy to whom were given massive responsibilities at a relatively young age is to be traced to the molding influence of that godly mother and of that godly grandmother. Now in the course of expounding these five passages, there was very little time left for any application except to seek to encourage every woman committed to being a godly mother. Now in two major passages, again in the pastoral epistles,

The Pastor's Mandate: Teaching, Reproof, Correction, Exhortation

6:34 the task of elders, of pastors, of preachers, is described in Titus 1 in these words. As Paul is giving through the inspiration of the Spirit the requirements of character and gift for elders, he says in Titus chapter 1 in verse 9 that those who would be elders must hold to the faithful word which is according to the teaching that is, that is consistent with apostolic tradition, that is consistent with what we would say revealed truth. To what end? Look at the text.

7:15 In order that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, he is to hold to the faithful word, not only to instruct in the sound doctrine, he is to do that, but in order having set forth the sound doctrine or literally the healthful teaching, he may exhort, he may seek to motivate, encourage, and the breadth of that word, exhortation, is to be understood when we find it in the setting like this, but also to do something else, and to convict the gainsayers. Now we don't use the word gainsayer in our day, literally a gainsayer is someone who speaks against the truth. And here an elder is according to his divinely given job description so to handle the word that he not only holds to sound doctrine, to healthy teaching, and even according to a parallel passage in Timothy to the very form of healthful words, but he is to be able to exhort in the realm of the sound doctrine, and not only to exhort, that's more positive, but he's also to be able to convict, bring to the test of scripture those who speak against the truth

8:41 and expose them for what they are, to convict the gainsayers. And then in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16, well-known passage often used to underscore our conviction that the word of God is God-breathed, divinely given data, all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching. Many would say that's it. Teach the word, leave the Holy Spirit to apply.

9:12 Sounds very pious. Only one thing wrong with it. It's utterly unbiblical. Look at the text.

9:19 All scripture is God-breathed and is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction or training or discipline in righteousness, so that scripture's God-given purpose is never exhausted when its teaching has been rightly set forth based upon sound principles of exposition and hopefully helpful principles of homiletics. The work is not done with the teaching. It is to be buttressed with reproof, with correction, with instruction in righteousness. Now why do I say those things? For the simple reason that two weeks ago, basically what I did was to give you the teaching of the word of God on the noble task of godly motherhood. There was no time for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Application 1: Preservation and Transformation for Women

10:23 Little time for what Paul says to Titus, exhorting in the realm of the healthful teaching and very little time to convict the gainsayers. And so in the time that I have left to me this morning, with God's job description of my task embedded in my conscience, I want you to consider with me, as time permits, five lines of application drawn from the teaching established two weeks ago on the noble task of godly motherhood. In terms of Puritan terminology, this will be use one, use two, use three, use four, use five. Use one. And this first application is almost exclusively directed to women who are committed to a course of godly motherhood, to the married and unmarried who are not mothers, but who, by the grace of God, have a heart that is open to embrace the instruction that was given two weeks ago. And this word to you is a word of preservation and transformation.

11:47 I've labored to get little verbal pegs on which to hang the various passages, and that's the best I could come up with. It sounds a little corny to me. If I were sitting where you're sitting, I'd say, couldn't you do better than that? Well, the answer is no.

12:00 The moment of truth comes when you've got to copy your notes over and pray and get on your way to be here on time. But it is a word to you committed in heart, whether you are not yet in the experience of motherhood or you are, but committed in heart to what the word of God says. I would bring by way of exhortation a word that I trust will be instrumental in these two areas, preservation and transformation. And why do I use those words?

12:29 To try to capture the essence of Romans 12 and verse 2. Please turn there with me. You're familiar with the setting. The apostle has expounded the glorious gospel of God's righteousness in all of its breadth and glory.

12:49 Now as he turns to a concentrated section of application and exhortation, he begins with the familiar words of Romans 12, 1. I beseech you, I entreat, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies or the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual, rational, reasonable service, and be not fashioned according to this world or this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Here the apostle makes an appeal to the Roman Christians. In the light of the manifold mercies or compassions of God, thoroughly expounded in this glorious gospel that is set forth in the opening eleven chapters of the book of Romans, he calls believers to a life of utter, total consecration to their God. And in that posture of gratitude that responds to God's mercies, saying, Here, Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do.

14:12 Or as we sang in our hymn, Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to you. And then we got specific. Eyes, hands, substance, will. In a sense, that hymn is an exposition of what Romans 12 means in practical experience.

14:31 Now, is that the beginning and middle and end then of the Christian life? Just to maintain a mind and a heart suffused with wonder before the panoramic display of the grace of God, and in that sense of wonder before that display to say, Lord, I'm yours. The Spirit indwells me. I love you, Jesus.

14:53 Now I'll just do what comes naturally. No. If that's all that were necessary, verse 2 would never follow. But verse 2 does follow.

15:03 And verse 2, as it were, is the flowering out of the particulars of a life of utter consecration to God in its practical mechanics. How does it work? Look at verse 2. And be not fashioned according to this world.

15:23 Literally, a present imperative, do not allow yourselves ever to be fashioned according to the age, this particular age. The emphasis upon that demonstrative adjective, upon this age, don't be fashioned according to the age, this one, but be continually transformed by the renewing of your mind. To what end? To the end that you may prove, that you may keep on testing and testing out what the will of God is for you in the particulars of your life, the will of God, the very thing that is good, well-pleasing to God, and complete. Now that's what the apostle says in brief. But now what I want you to focus upon is these two present imperatives, do not be fashioned according to this world, but ever be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see, the key place of the nous, of the mind, of the thinking faculty is highlighted in this call to utter consecration.

16:49 It is in the realm of what we think that what we are has its genesis. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. When the apostle in Ephesians 4.17 says to the Ephesian Christians, you are no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk, where does he point immediately?

17:11 In the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. You see, the apostle recognizes this great principle. And what I am saying by way of exhortation to every godly woman in this place who is committed to the biblical perspectives of the noble task of godly motherhood, you need to lay to heart this text and say, oh God, help me that I may be immunized, that I may be preserved against the prevailing mindset of this particular age. And in no period of at least our national history as a country has the biblical concept of the noble task of godly motherhood been under more vicious, constant, multifaceted attack as it has been in this country in the last 30 years. In recent weeks, I have plowed through a treatise that has devastated me. There are times when I have been absolutely drained emotionally as I have read it from cover to cover.

18:36 A book by a Mary Cassian called The Feminist Gospel. And this godly woman has mastered the literature on feminism that has come out in the last 30 years, both secular and religious. And it is bone-chilling to see how utterly committed these radical feminists are utterly to obliterate not just the things we would like to obliterate, injustices based upon gender. This is not a matter of clamoring for equal pay for equal work.

19:13 This is not a matter of clamoring for things that any Christian committed to righteousness would be concerned about. It is a commitment utterly to rid this world of God and of His definition of masculinity and femininity and all that that involves in His world. They are committed philosophically and religiously to rename themselves, the world, and God Himself. And we've come to that third stage where even Bible translations are being, quote, de-sexed.

19:51 Because the Bible was written by misogynists, women-haters, and men in positions of patriarchal male dominance. You ever heard of Simone de Beauvoir? You may have never heard of her, but you have been exposed to her influence daily. She was the brilliant young French philosopher who had a common-law relationship with the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

20:31 And she hammered out in her book The Second Sex a philosophy of feminism that though it didn't hit our country as other things have hit it, it began to filter down in to the more radical feminists who began to emerge in the 60s. And out of her influence came Betty Friedan, and some of you have heard of her. And her book, The Feminine Mystique, more of you have heard of that. And then you know Gloria Steinem, former playboy bunny, turned radical feminist.

21:08 And that influence gathered momentum until, as Mary Cassian indicates, one cannot even keep up with the literature now, both from an intellectual and philosophical standpoint, right down to editorials in Family Circle and Woman's Day magazine, in which there is a constant, vicious, calculated attempt to make any woman sitting in this place who holds her head high and says, God has marked me out to be a wife and a mother and a keeper at home. And you stand with dignity under the Lordship of Christ to make you feel like you've been brainwashed and bullied into non-personhood. By this male-dominated Bible and the male-dominated church. And the only way to self-actualization and self-realization is to bust out of that cocoon and find your own selfhood, totally independent of men, of God, of the Bible, and certainly of motherhood and the home. And if any of you wants to challenge me that that's rhetorical overkill, I challenge you to come to my house, to my face, and make the challenge, and I will lay the evidence before you.

22:34 It's all out war, dear people. And this is why my exhortation to you, dear women, is plead with God that you will not be conformed. Conformed. Letting the world, in the free paraphrase of this passage by Phillips, squeeze you into its mold.

23:00 Because it is. It is squeezing. You see, the world doesn't declare an intellectual, philosophical DMZ, demilitarized zone. You want to be a godly mother?

23:13 Fine. You girls want to think of your identity as women and potential wives and mothers? Oh, that's fine. Just leave us free to think our way.

23:22 Oh, no. You see, every woman who glows in the power of the Spirit with the dignity of her identity as a godly mother is a rebuke to this generation. And men love what? Dark rather than light.

23:42 They will not come to the light lest their deed should be reproved. They hate you, woman. And as long as you sit high in the saddle with God-given dignity in your role, you're a rebuke to their folly. And the pressure will be on you to conform.

23:59 The same way the pressure's on any of us who believe in preaching. We've got some of the most notorious evangelical leaders saying, the day of authoritative proclamation is over. Oh, and God rewrites his Bible. It'll be over, but not until then.

24:16 Spineless, gutless wimps. They'll bend. But may God give us the spirit of John the Baptist who was no reed shaken in the wind, who was no dandy dressed in finery. He was the voice of one crying until he lost his head and went to a better place.

24:36 What a wonderful way to go. But I give you that exhortation to the end that you may experience the preservation. Be not conformed. But then not only preservation, but transformation.

24:50 Be ye continually being transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. Well, how's your mind going to be renewed?

24:57 I'll clue you. It won't be sitting down, absorbing all of Dr. Quinn's feminism, radical, independent, homosexual-promoting garbage. And if you question that, I'll document it.

25:17 I took notes when I watched the one that tried to portray Walt Whitman as a homosexual. And the whole problem, the whole program was calculated to soften any fear that your little boys would be out in the woods with a homosexual. And the radical feminism organizing the women for this. My friends, Dr. Quinn is not an innocent family program.

25:41 It drew in a lot of unsuspecting people in order then to promote the agenda of this present evil age. And yet I bet there are some of you that sit and watch that stuff and let your kids watch it and never make a critical comment. How are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind? Spending far more hours in front of the TV than in your Bible.

26:07 Have you memorized those five passages we looked at? Absorbed them into your spiritual bloodstream and prayed, Oh God, make them part of the very texture of my soul. That's how you're transformed by the renewing of your mind. Who is the blessed man and the blessed woman according to Psalm 1?

26:27 He does not walk in the counsel, the advice of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners with eyes bugging out, watching soaps and watching this and that. Doesn't sit with scoffers. But his or her delight is where? In the law of the Lord.

26:44 In His law does he meditate. Day and night he shall be like a tree. He will be the one, she will be the one who according to Romans 12, 2 being fashioned, transformed by the renewing of the mind is proving in your own experience the will of God, the thing that is good, acceptable or well pleasing to God and complete. I plead with you dear women to take this exhortation and by the grace of God seek to be one who is preserved and transformed in this matter of your thinking about godly motherhood. But then secondly, and for you who are sitting here this morning, I'm speaking especially now to you girls and to you single women among us. And I want to address to you a word that I hope will shape and here are my two words your aspiration and your preparation. A word that I trust will shape your aspiration and your preparation.

Application 2: Aspiration and Preparation for Girls and Single Women

28:04 Aspiration is simply defined as a strong desire or ambition. Now if you're a Christian woman, if you're a Christian girl, then your strongest aspiration should be the aspiration framed by Paul in Philippians. We could take Philippians 1 and verse 20 and 21 where Paul says according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness now as always Christ shall be magnified in my life in my body whether by life or by death. That's godly aspiration.

28:45 Paul says this is my earnest desire and longing. Christ magnified in this redeemed humanity in life and in death for to me to live is Christ. Now that's the baseline aspiration that ought to be resident in everyone who's in a state of grace. Or in the language of chapter 3 this one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind I press toward the mark.

29:16 Or in the earlier verses where the apostle says here is my ambition that I may lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. You see at the end of the day living the Christian life though it involves all kinds of wheels within wheels the baseline issues are relatively simple and uncomplicated. Hey Paul, I've got a big notebook 50 pages I'm ready to take down a sketch of your philosophy of life. He said I'll save you a lot of ink.

29:45 You can write it down in one word. For to me that's me, Paul formerly Saul of Tarsus to live that's everything that has to do with life is Christ. Now Paul that's a good little introduction but now when can that's it. Anything else I tell you is just the flowering out of some facet of that simple statement.

30:04 Now when we talk then of the matter of aspiration I'm assuming in you girls who claim to be united to Christ by faith and in you single women that this is the baseline aspiration but overlaid upon that overlaid upon it as you think of your identity as a woman as you think of what in the purpose of God may be your calling as a woman may I urge you may I plead with you to take the passages expounded two weeks ago and pray them in until you can say with the baseline being I want to glorify Christ live for Christ honor Christ out of gratitude to Christ O Lord if it please you give me to know in my experience the role the noble task of godly motherhood that you will see it as the appointed path of persevering faith that which secures the credible witness of the church in its message and under God can be a major means of molding men of God so that you girls growing up do not have as your model to which you aspire an Oprah Winfrey with her common law relationship to the man

31:32 whom she shamelessly acknowledges has been her living companion for years with no intention of decent marriage no desire for children with her self-righteous inclusion of everything from Alan the pervert before millions God have mercy on you she is no model for any Christian nor is the chief cardiologist on Chicago Hope who thinks she's got it all see what I'm saying is you're not going to get from this world system anything to encourage you girls and you single women to aspire to that most noble of callings and I'm pleading with you to soak your soul in your Bibles until that aspiration rises out of the stuff of deep heart interaction with the living God and then added to aspiration is the word preparation read Proverbs 31 and ask yourself this simple question did this woman

32:59 get all of those capacities and abilities and all the knowledge to do all the things she did did it all come dumped down to her on her wedding day you read Proverbs 31 and you realize that woman of that capacity and those abilities and that stature was a woman a long time in the making you see the point I'm making if there is this aspiration then there will be conscious and deliberate preparation now I've heard people promote the idea well if I'm rearing my daughters to be wives and mothers then I don't really need to be concerned about expanding their minds stretching their intellects developing every capacity and ability and every skill and discipline within the corpus of reasonable expectations I'll just teach them how to cook and clean and be sweet to their husbands what a terribly unbiblical and naive view go back to Proverbs 31 please turn this cassette over to continue the message Corpus of reasonable expectations I'll just teach them how to cook and clean and be sweet to their husbands what a terribly unbiblical and naive view

34:27 go back to Proverbs 31 go back to the first commandment thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind with all thy soul and with all thy strength there's no parenthesis saying except if you're gonna be a wife and a mother then you can be a dunce and a dodo and a bimbo and you just need to have a cook and smile and kiss your hubby on the cheek and produce baby my friends what a terribly unbiblical view think of the broad spectrum of what it is to be a godly mother so to know the scriptures that you can produce a timothy that as a grown man somebody can say to your son and your daughter abide in the things you've learned knowing of whom you learned them and that from a nursing child you've known all holy scriptures if you're gonna rightly teach your kids you gotta have a good working knowledge of hermeneutics principles of opening up the word of God so you teach your kids how to responsibly handle the Bible you gotta be a theologianist they'll ask you questions like the questions my wife was asked Jesus God mummy? yes Jesus was praying to God as his father? yes how come he was talking to himself? a little girl who hears in devotions Jesus walking on the water and the next night when the bath water is in there four inches of it puts her foot down

35:56 shakes her head puts another foot down what are you doing honey? I don't believe it you can't do it can't do what? can't walk on water what do you say then? Jesus did it why can't I?

36:10 well why can't she? and why should she not place her faith in what it says Jesus did on whether or not she can do it that's a theological question you got an answer? you won't get it watching the soaps and reading cheap so called Christian romance novels what a task to be the kind of theologian you need to be to be a godly mother you need to be an armchair psychologist not learning your psychology from the secular psychologist but soaking your soul in the book of proverbs reading books that responsibly seek to expound the principles of child development it's said of our blessed Lord as to his human nature he grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man some of you didn't have the disciplines of common courtesy and manners the way many of you answer the phone I'm shocked you were never trained how to even answer the phone graciously and as grown adults you answer hello what a travesty upon Christian grace can you imagine Jesus answering the phone if they had him in Nazareth hello who am I speaking to? who you want? I ask you can you imagine the one who grew in favor with men answering the phone

37:37 like a boorish social dunce you want to raise men and women with dignity and grace who commend the gospel then you better read a book on manners and become a master of manners and courtesy should I start? I'm just starting read through proverbs 31 and ask the question what kind of preparation is needed to be that kind of a godly mother? of a godly mother and homemaker and you'll realize that all of the faculties and all of the powers that God has given to you as a woman need to be developed to the full and not a one of them will ever be wasted in your role as a mother and if God never gives you that role you'll bring all the more glory to him in whatever place God puts you in his will don't sit around marking time doing nothing to stretch your mind and increase your capacities hoping you'll get married and then you'll just be a wife and a mother and a homemaker may I exhort you with this word pointing you to godly aspiration and practical preparation but then thirdly and more briefly I want to speak to another group who are here and that's those of you who are mothers

Application 3: Admonition and Invitation for Unconverted Mothers

39:04 in the goodness and in the will of God but you're not godly mothers because godly motherhood is rooted in being united to Christ and my word to you is a word of admonition and invitation go back to the text in 1st Timothy chapter 2 if you will for a moment hear the apostle speaking of godly motherhood being the path of persevering faith notice what he says she shall be saved through the child bearing if they continue notice if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety she shall be saved if they continue in faith you can't continue in faith until you begin in the way of faith you can't continue in that love which is through the spirit if you're not indwelt by the spirit you can't continue in sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord unless you are initially sanctified set apart unto God in union with Christ for he is made of God unto us wisdom, sanctification same word in the original and redemption my dear unconverted mother I would in no way denigrate

40:30 all that you have done in God's common grace in being willing to conceive and carry a child for nine months go into the throes of birthing that child caring for it in its utter dependentness and helplessness in those early months feeding, nourishing, caring washing its dirty clothes I would in no way speak disparagingly of anything you have done but I ask you this simple question my unconverted mother listen to me, listen do you know that you're robbing robbing, robbing your children of the greatest love the greatest thing you can give them the greatest thing you can give them is not well balanced meals a stable, peaceful home some sense of stability in an unstable world in all the things you give them if you're not able to give them the bread of life as one who himself herself has tasted of the bread of life you're robbing your child of its most precious commodity and its most needful commodity if anyone heard in your neighborhood that you were deliberately willfully withholding daily bread and sustenance from your children they would look upon you as a horrible wretch worthy to be cast into prison

41:58 and have your kids taken from you yet you withhold from them the bread of life because you yourself will not partake of it you withhold the water of life because you will not drink my dear unconverted mother may I lovingly entreat you may I admonish you to repent of your sin repent of your pride repent and turn from anything and everything that would keep you from embracing a gracious savior who not only invites you to himself to find rest but invites you to himself that he might make you what his grace is able to make you as a woman as a mother remember Paul could say the unfeigned faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded in you also why did he say unfeigned faith because in that mother and grandmother there was an evident display of the vitality and reality of true union with Christ and Paul says as I observed you Timothy I'm persuaded you have the same non hypocritical faith that your mama and your grandmama had and that's ordinarily God's way of working grace does not flow in bloodlines automatically

43:28 but grace is conveyed most frequently in the context of family succession there's all the difference in the world between the former and the latter God is the God of means and if I were to ask how many of you sit here today and can trace your conversion to the influence of some family member it would validate what I've said and therefore I say to you dear mothers who are not in Christ I admonish you I urge and invite you to flee to Christ that you may have your sins forgiven and may be equipped to become the mother that he alone can make you but then I have a fourth word of exhortation and that exhortation is a message of plain exhortation and it comes primarily to husbands and to children nobody's exempted husbands and children and it's based upon the clear statement of Proverbs 31 and verse 28 now you remember in being familiar with the passage that beginning in verses 10 and 11 the writer of this portion makes a general statement a worthy woman who can find her price is far above rubies in the heart of her husband trust in her

Application 4: Exhortation to Husbands and Children to Praise

44:55 he shall have no lack of gain now notice starting in verse 12 everything focuses on she does him good verse 13 she seeks verse 14 she 15 she verse 16 she she she she she and it's a description all the way down to verse 27 of what she does what she is in the totality of her role as a worthy woman now notice what changes in verse 28 not to her hands do this she does this she does that but now notice verse 28 her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her saying here the focus turns from the woman and what she does to her children and her husband and what they do and notice they're doing it while she's yet alive they don't wait till she's lying in her coffin and then say lovely things about her to others they say honest gracious encouraging things to her while she's yet alive look at the text her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her not praises her primarily

46:24 to others but praises her saying many daughters have done worthily but you she excel to them all past tense but she you do excel here is the picture of children and of a husband who having come to some appreciation of a godly mother to her face while she's yet in the land of the living now you see the exhortation to you husbands apart from that sweet card you picked out on mother's day when's the last time you held your wife in your arms and looked her straight back in the eyeballs to the retinas and even to the back of her eyes you see what i see you see it in the mirror i see it yeah the crow's feet are coming in there's a

47:53 sag here isn't that what it says grace is deceitful in beauty's vein why they pass so quickly all of the layers of the plastic surgeon on facelifts and tummy tucks and implants not withstanding she's gonna be wrinkled and one day she's yet in the land of the living and they praise her and they speak of her worth to her face and may i urge you husbands to do this where the world is constantly bombarding your wife telling her of people not instructed in the word of god fundamentally content in their role and they told them you're not content you just haven't faced up

49:21 to it oh we haven't tell me where that mentality and anti christian demonic theology how we need that our wives and mothers should know in the life of the church and in the life of our homes that we thank god that he has made them what he's made them and i say to you that if you really want to give her the greatest delight of her heart don't break it by being the foolish son or daughter proverbs 1520 and 1725 and we let's keep listening to the real basic truth that our home is in

50:50 all of our hearts is in our minds i don't think it is it that we and fill her belly oh what I mean is does she work out of the home I say very sweetly I say thank you for being more precise no she and we have chosen that the home will be the sphere of her labor and we have done that because the scripture says that the older women are to train the younger women to be what house workers oikos and ergos workers at home and then you give a chance to say you say oh that's just terminology captures ideas and ideas shape character and you're filling out a form and it says are you employed put yes place of employment same as home address why let's into their mindset there's a place for rear and back on our hind legs and say enough's enough and when you have a sense of the dignity interpreted biblically you can do that without being nasty and so I do exalt or you who are sitting here as husbands and fathers commit yourself in every way

Application 5: Reproof and Correction for Young Men (Against Hedonism)

52:18 possible to make sure that in your home wife and mother and the terminology that is used all lends itself to an out working of proverbs 31 and verse 28 and then in the few remaining minutes I have my fifth and final word and when I wrestled with what to call it exhortation admonition instruction I ended up saying no it's just second print the end of second Timothy 316 be its reproof it is correction instruction in righteousness you know I'm going to speak to now I'm going to speak to the boys to the young men and to the single adult men among us and I want to talk to you very very bluntly and frankly I hope you were here to hear the exposition of those five passages that point in the direction of the noble task of godly motherhood I hope you've been listening while we've spoken to the women about the necessity of being immunized and preserved against the mindset of this world and to be transformed by the renewing of the mind and I know from personal pastoral interaction we have many single women and there are many girls among us who by the grace of God are thinking biblically and they are going to be old and they are going to be young and they are going to be about this noble task of godly motherhood

53:46 who do have overlaid upon their baseline aspiration to please Christ, the aspiration to be a godly wife and mother. And it's not romantic with them. They know something as much as one can know without being in the situation. They've realistically faced something of the burden and the tireless pressure of motherhood and the rest.

54:10 They're not just dreaming.

54:12 But now there's a problem. How is that desire going to be realized? How is that godly ambition going to be fulfilled?

54:22 Can they create godly men prepared to bear the burden of exercising a selfless, Christ-like, loving headship over them and a responsible, thoughtful, multifaceted direction to the life of the family and the children that she's willing to bear and nurse and nurture? To the glory of God. Can these godly girls and single women create such men? No, they can't.

54:55 Can a group of elders get together at a convention somewhere and declare a Reformed Baptist Sadie Hawkins Day? Now, a lot of you don't know what Sadie Hawkins Day is. I'm dating myself.

55:08 But back when there was a comic strip, I don't know if it still exists anymore, called Little Abner. In the Little Abner comic strip, there was a day a year when all the women had the right to go and catch a man. That was Sadie Hawkins Day. And on that day, any man you wanted, you'd go catch him, he's yours.

55:24 Sort of like what they did in the Old Testament. Remember when they went scattering and grabbed the women and any they could grab on that day became their wives and their concubines. Well, maybe that's the genesis. I've never been able to tie the two things together.

55:37 But we can't declare some kind of a Christian Sadie Hawkins Day. Now, some of the young ladies might wish we could, but we can't. And they know we can't. So where?

55:48 Humor aside now. Where are such men going to come from? Can we revert to parentally arranged marriages? And some of us parents get together and negotiate and then tell you, hey, you is going to marry her on such and such a day and that's the end of discussion.

56:06 Well, I don't think we want to go there. Well, then I ask particularly you young men, you single men of marriageable age, where are such men going to come from? Now, hear me carefully. I'm going to vent.

56:20 I'm going to vent something that is not a firecracker concern. It's been a growing burden over many years. Hear me carefully. Your unconverted single male companions are out in the world given over to the philosophy of hedonism.

56:37 Not he then, he done. H-E-D-O-N. Hedonism. And the philosophy of hedonism is basically this.

56:46 It is the self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure, as a way of life. That's hedonism. The self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life. Now, don't lose, don't get off track with me and hear me carefully now.

57:02 Your whirling hedonistic friends, when they adopt hedonism, how do most of them express it? Unbiblical, anti-law indulgence in drugs, sex, booze, a lifestyle that is patently immoral. They're almost proud on the Monday morning to tell how many of the Ten Commandments they broke on the weekend. But now listen carefully.

57:29 You would never do that. Either by the restraints of common grace upon a conscience and a psyche conditioned by your godly training in your godly home, or because you're indwelt by the Spirit of God and you cannot abandon yourself to a lawless life. But listen carefully. You can have a very refined and respectable respectable, hedonism that is quasi-Christian.

57:59 Living for self-indulgent pleasure as a way of life. You don't want the death to self that will come by intelligently standing at the front of this church or some other and saying, I take this woman and solemnly commit before God to lay down my life for her as Christ laid down His life for the church. To lay down my toys. My toys that I play with in all of my spare time.

58:35 All respectable toys. They'd never bring me into church discipline. I'll never find them explicitly condemned reading my Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But I have to give up my toys.

58:50 And instead of spending a couple evenings a week, with my hobbies and my sports and my toys, I'd have to come home to bear the burdens of a wife and ask her, how was your day? Take the kids for an hour or two off to a park so she could get her head screwed back on and know her left hand from her right. I don't want that burden. No, you don't.

59:12 Why? Because you're a hedonist.

59:17 And God didn't intend you should be an adult hedonist. Paul said, when I became a man, I put away childish things. Take your toys to a place called Golgotha and ask the Holy Ghost to impale them upon the cross of the Son of God.

59:43 You've been conformed to this world, young man.

59:47 Hedonism.

59:50 You feeling the sting? I hope you are.

59:55 I'm prepared to say without claiming to be a prophet, if the Holy Spirit does not come upon this generation of young men, in many of our congregations sitting under sound biblical exposition and purge out this latent hedonism, there will be no emerging generation of solid God-honoring families. And frankly, I don't know what the godly young women in our churches will do in trying to follow a leadership that they can't respect.

60:36 Isn't it interesting that when you turn to the Word of God and you see singleness beyond the ordinary marriageable age, Jesus said in Matthew 19, after speaking of the permanence of marriage, the disciples said, oh boy, if that's what's in bulk, man, maybe it's better not to be married. Jesus said, not everyone can bear this saying. Some are eunuchs from birth. Some are made eunuchs by man.

60:59 Now hear me. Some are eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. If I saw single men burning, burning themselves up for the kingdom three evenings a week down at the mission in the New York ministry, out in the parks, passing out tracts and preaching, burning themselves out for the widows and the needy, coming to the deacons saying, I'm young, I'm strong, I'm not married, I have no responsibilities. Lay some burdens on me.

61:35 Then I'd say, perhaps they're eunuchs for the kingdom's sake. But when they're eunuchs for their toys' sake, I say, there's no category for you in the Bible. No category for you in the Bible. Read 1 Corinthians 7, where singleness beyond marriageable age is highlighted as noble, dignified, glorifying to God to the end that one may be more careful for the things of God, not more fastidious to feed your own latent hedonism.

62:11 And you parents, you raise your sons with the understanding that to be a man is an awesome burden. I thank God for a father who reared me that way. It was an awesome burden, but a noble privilege and responsibility. Can I ever forget when I came home from college, 20 years old, went for a walk with my kid brother.

62:39 When I was 20, I looked more like my late 20s. And someone said, hey Al, is that your kid? I can relive it as though it were yesterday. And I kind of put on a smile.

62:49 No, that's just my kid brother. But inside, what a glow I felt. Boy, he thinks I'm the daddy. I can't wait to have that burden.

62:59 Take that responsibility. Find my manhood in my Eve and in my offspring. That's been killed in much of this generation. God help us as parents to resurrect it in our children.

63:15 Being a man is an awesome burden. God help us as parents to resurrect it in our children. Being a man is an awesome burden. Being a man is an awesome burden.

63:19 You've got to lead your wife. Not just bark orders to her. You've got to dwell with her according to knowledge. You've got to get inside her soul and her psyche and sensitively and lovingly minister to her.

63:32 Nurture her. Support her. And you fathers, Ephesians 6.4, not mamas.

Gospel Grounding and Concluding Prayer

63:39 You fathers, nurture them. Provoke them not to anger, but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. I've taken my hour. I am ready for them.

63:51 And even a few more minutes. But I want you to turn in a final passage lest some sit here and say, Well, it's been a much of moralizing. There ain't been much gospel in all of this. There ain't been much gospel in all of this.

64:05 There ain't been much power in this. It's been a poor excuse for exposition. Well, my hyper critical friend, I leave you to your rationalizing. But I want you to see in the light of Titus chapter two, that when you descend to these kind of particulars, of speaking to old men and young men, that when you descend to these kind of particulars, of speaking to old men and young men, And, by the way, when Paul says, the way when paul is done speaking to the older women what they're to train the younger women it's interesting in verse 6 of chapter 2 he says and exhort the young men to be sober-minded get in touch with reality get out of your dream world of toys and games and sports and grow up and face your manly responsibilities under god but now at the end of all of this he gives the rationale for this kind of concern look at it verse 11 4 this is the capstone statement the grace of god is appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness in worldly lust we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and he's told us what sober righteous godly life means for the old men for the older women for the younger women for the married women for the younger men he's gone into particulars and he said this is consistent with the very manifestation of the grace of god in jesus christ and we are to live this way all the way while looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great god and savior jesus christ who gave himself for us in order that he might redeem us from all iniquity

65:33 and purify to himself a people for his own possession zealous of good works and what are the good works for which they're to be zealous the very things delineated in this passage my friends we have been trafficking in things that have their tap roots in our lord's immolation upon the cross jesus died that there might be godly mothers jesus died that there might be men ready to take on the burden of a woman who has a god-given ambition to be a godly mother christ died that these things might be implemented in us by the grace and power of the holy spirit you may god grant that in this place it may be said that he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied let's pray our father we pray that you would take these exhortations from your word and write them upon our hearts by the power of the spirit and may fruit be born to your praise and to our good we ask in jesus name amen