Avoid Moral Defilement/Defilers

The Mandate for Detailed Practical Instruction

0:00 in this present day, who allege that specific, detailed instruction in practical Christian behavior is a form of sub-Christian moralism. If you ever hear people say, ah, that church, they just preach a sub-Christian moralistic message. Generally, that accusation is made because within that particular assembly, those engaged in public teaching not only expound the great doctrines and privileges of the Christian faith, but also expound and apply those portions of scripture in which there are to be found specific, detailed instructions in practical Christian behavior. However, such an allegation simply will not stand up before the clear teachings of the Christian faith. of the Word of God. For example, it is after such detailed instructions concerning the prayer life of the church, the relative roles of men and women in the leadership of the church, the specific standards for leaders in the church, warnings against asceticism, which would denigrate the

1:16 proper enjoyment of marital intimacy and all wholesome foods, it is after such detailed instructions concerning the prayer life of the church, the relative roles of men and women practical instruction in Christian behavior that Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 6, if thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a sub-Christian moralistic teacher. No. If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith and of the wholesome doctrine which thou hast followed until now. It's amazing how one verse can wither a mountain of false accusations. Do you see the connection? All that detailed instruction concerning Christian behavior, and he says, if you put the brethren in mind of these things, that is, if you teach them, expound them, exhort and apply them, that will constitute you a good minister. Likewise,

2:24 in the pivotal or watershed text of parental duty, Ephesians 6, 4, we see that these words come in an epistle filled with the most lofty doctrines of the Christian faith, such as election, predestination, redemption, the gift of the Spirit, the constitution of the new humanity in Christ with the middle wall of partition broken down, the unfolding of the mystery hidden for ages, but Paul does not assume. That a mind instructed in these doctrines and a heart inflamed with their influence will automatically guide a Christian into the details of a life worthy of those realities. Having said in the light of them, walk worthily of your calling, he then gives specific, detailed instruction as to how one is to walk worthy of that calling. And in the midst of that, in the midst of those detailed instructions, he gives family instructions. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but nurture them in the chastening and the admonition of the Lord. So, as we come to lesson number 20 in our series entitled, How Not to Foul Up the Training of Our Children, I have an absolutely clear conscience that I'm functioning in the role of a good minister of Jesus Christ and not a subjugator.

3:54 A Christian moralist. And I reject the charge. I believe with the word of God, I can strip myself of any of the mud of that charge which would be thrown at me for daring to take 20 weeks already dealing with this subject. Now, having addressed the issue of the overall spiritual and emotional climate of the family, and having considered the biblical teaching of the nature affected by the sanctification of the church, I believe that I can strip myself of any of the mud of that charge, I'm sorry, having considered the biblical teaching on the nurture affected by the sanctified use of the rod, we're now examining the biblical teaching concerning the second great means ordained by God for the nurture of our children, namely, godly admonition. And what have we discovered so far? Well, first, that to admonish is to use authoritative verbal instruction, warning, entreaty, and motivation. And to admonish is to use authoritative verbal instruction, coupled with correction, in order to mold the character of our children. Those perspectives

The Foundation of Godly Admonition: The Fear of the Lord

5:02 and patterns which, under God's blessing, will result in our children knowing the blessedness of the righteous as described in Psalm 1. That's what admonition is. Then we noted that the foundational issue in all admonition, if it is to be the admonition of the Lord, is the matter of the fear of the Lord. And that's what admonition is. And that's what admonition is. And that's what fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1 and verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the chief part of wisdom. So that in all of our admonition to our children, that is, our authoritative verbal instruction, correction, warning, entreaty, and motivation concerning the perspectives and patterns of life which will result in the way of blessedness, we are to continually bring in the reality of God's being, his rights, his authority. The knowledge of us, his will with respect to us, and his ultimate judgment of us in the last day. So in the

6:02 Proverbs, again and again, God breaks through in the process and in the specifics of admonition. For example, and this is for any who were not with us in the previous lessons, just to have the word of God itself, I trust, convince your judgment. Proverbs 5.21, after an extended exhortation, concerning moral purity in the realm of sexual relations, he says in verse 21, for the ways of a man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he weighs carefully all his paths.

6:42 He says to his son, remember what you do in a bed with any woman in any place, the eye of God is upon you. Never forget it. He weighs carefully all of your paths. Likewise, when he's talking about the trying to condition his conscience concerning things that are not noble and upright and morally desirable, how does he introduce it in verse 16 of chapter 6? There are six things, not that your father hates, or that society abominates, or that the consensus of noble and upright people rejects, but there are six things which Jehovah hateth, yea, seven are an abomination to him. And then, when he's even giving such practical instruction on what we would call honesty in business, chapter 11 in verse 1, a false balance is an abomination to Jehovah. But a just weight is his delight. When he's tempted to shave a little of a lead off the weight that says a pound, he says, remember that that will be an abomination to Jehovah. But when he sees a full

Previous Categories of Parental Admonition

7:52 pound of lead on the weight that goes on the side of the bed, he says, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to scale for a pound of beans. God smiles. God smiles. It's not your purse that must be your ultimate end. It must be God's frown. God smiled the fear of Jehovah. And again and again, throughout the entire book of Proverbs, we find this present. Now, having focused on the foundational issue of godly admonition, we're now addressing the major issues highlighted in the godly parental admonition as set forth in the book of Proverbs. Thus far, we've covered three major categories. Parents must admonish their children to be attentive listeners to godly parental instruction, guidance, and warning. Twelve texts. Secondly,

8:38 parents must admonish their children to be active and earnest in the pursuit of true knowledge and wisdom. We looked at 15 texts. Thirdly, parents must admonish their children to learn to desire, welcome, and heed, rebuke, correction, and counsel. And we looked at 20 texts. Now, today, we move to another dominant emphasis in the admonition of the godly father to his son in the book of Proverbs. Some of you identified this aspect last week when I opened up the class for input, and I'm going to express this fourth major emphasis of the book of Proverbs in these words. Parents must admonish their children to recognize their children to be active and earnest in the pursuit of true knowledge and wisdom. Parents must admonish their children to recognize and avoid moral defilement, and to recognize and avoid those people and influences which would lead them into moral defilement. And

Defining Moral Defilement and Growing Uncleanness

9:41 for some of you taking notes, let me run it by again quickly. Parents must admonish their children to recognize and avoid moral defilement, and to recognize and avoid those people and influences which would lead them into moral defilement. Now, let me first of all define what I mean by moral defilement, the moral defilement, and then explain what I mean by being led into it. By moral defilement, I'm not referring only to sexual defilement. When we say so-and-so is an immoral person, we usually have, if not an exclusive, a dominant connotation of sexual immorality. But I'm using the word in its more proper sense, that which is against the mores or the standards of God, wherever God's standards are violated. So I'm not thinking primarily, and certainly not exclusively, of sexual defilement. Rather, as in the book of Proverbs, I'm referring to all acts, thoughts, and patterns of life which are contrary to the law of God, and therefore make us morally unclean. And then secondly, as we move

10:53 into the subject, I want to say that I'm not referring to the law of God, and therefore make us morally unclean. I want to say a word about the use of my terminology that children are to recognize and avoid moral defilement. Am I saying they have no native moral defilement? No. Moral defilement adheres to us from our conception.

11:13 Psalm 51.5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. So that we are not only led into it, but we are also led into it. So that we are not only led into it, but we are also led into it. So that we are not only led into it, but we are also led into it.

11:25 And if we are legally charged with the guilt of Adam's first sin, we are conceived with the totality of what we are as human beings, permeated with moral defilement. However, there is a doctrine of growing defilement or uncleanness, or of increasing defilement and uncleanness in the Word of God. For example, in Romans 6 and verse 19, Romans 6 and verse 19 we read I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as you presented your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity you see there is a growing pattern of defilement and uncleanness and a growing pattern of iniquity in the life of a sinner Romans 1.24 speaks of God taking people already sinners and giving them up in the lust of their hearts unto uncleanness wherefore Romans 1.24 God gave them up in the lust of their hearts unto uncleanness so though there was inherent concreated uncleanness

12:49 there is a growing pattern of uncleanness in this Judaism through the a pattern of repeated moral defilement and to recognize and avoid those people and influences that would lead his son into it. Repeated, passionate, multi-motivated. I've chosen my words carefully, that's why my nose is in my notes, because I want you to feel the weight of those words. It is not enough to give objective, theologically and ethically correct admonition. It must be repeated, it must be

13:59 passionate, and it must be multi-motivated. For it is not the admonition which is of the Lord, that which is revealed by Christ, who spoke through Solomon, giving us this marvelous pattern of a father admonishing his son. Well, tighten your seat belt, and we'll take up the text. I have a 11 categories of texts, not just 11 texts, some of them have a couple of verses, but here we go.

Avoiding Enticement by Sinners (Proverbs 1)

14:29 Chapter 1, verse 10. Now you see what we're looking for. We're looking for this dominant emphasis of parental admonition with respect to recognizing and avoiding moral defilement, recognizing the people and influences that would lead to moral defilement. What's the first exhortation? After the foundation.

14:51 Issues in place in chapter 1, verse 7. After this first dominant emphasis is given that his son listen and learn from his father, what is the first concrete exhortation? Verse 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. And then he gives a concrete example of how they will seek to entice him. It's fascinating to look up the Hebrew word for entice and to see its usage in the Old Testament. It's precisely the same word used of what Samson's wife did in Judges 14-15 when she enticed him to tell the secret of the riddle. And it's the same word used in Judges 16-15 to tell us what Delilah did when she enticed Samson to tell the secret of his strength. She turned on the tears.

15:50 She don't love me.

15:54 Enticed. Using every kind of psychological and emotional pressure to bring Samson into the train of her own will and desires. My son, if sinners entice thee, if they use all of the tricks of their trade to get you to join them in their sinful ways, do not consent. If they say, what's the first strand of enticement?

16:22 Be macho. Come with us. Let's lay wait for blood. Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause.

16:30 Let's swallow them up alive as Sheol and whole as they that go down to the pit. We'll show we're men. We don't even twitch when we see someone lying in his own blood and in the death twitches. We'll show that we're men. We'll mug them, beat them, and kill them. And we won't twitch.

16:50 Come on, be a man with us. And the next strand of motivation is covetousness. We shall find all precious substance, fill our houses with spoil. Next motivation, camaraderie. Thou shalt cast thy lot among us. We'll all have one purse. You see what he's telling his son? He's not merely saying, avoid the people that would lead you into uncleanness. He's telling him, how they will do it? And forewarning him. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

17:29 And he doesn't stop there. He gives him some specific and concrete examples of how the wicked will cease to, will attempt to entice him. Then he comes back in verse 15 and repeats the admonition. My son, walk not in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path.

17:52 You see what he says? If you don't walk with them, then they can't put their words in your ears, saying, let's be macho. Let's be wealthy. Let's have camaraderie. If you don't walk with them, they can't entice you. So my son, don't walk in the way with them. Refrain your foot from their path. And he goes on to say, their path is one of an inveterate commitment to evil, and they're not changing, and they're determined.

18:22 To get you to change, therefore, avoid them. Now you see why I said parents must admonish their children to recognize and avoid moral defilement, and those people and influences that would lead them into defilement, and that that admonition must be repeated, passionate, and multi-motivated. It's right there in the first instance of it. Now chapter 2, verse 12.

Recognizing Evil Men and Immoral Women (Proverbs 2)

18:53 After telling him to receive the words, the admonition begins in chapter 2 with having that hunger and thirst, and that inquisitive and inquiring pursuit after knowledge and understanding. Then he tells the purposes for which that understanding will be imparted, and one of them is here in verse 12. To deliver thee from the way of evil or the evil man, from the men that speak perverse things, who forsake the paths of uprightness. To walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil, who are crooked in their ways, wayward in their paths. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the woman that flatters with her words, that forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God. And then he goes on to describe what happens to those who consort with her, and then he turns to the positive in verse 20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men. Now, what is he doing? He's saying to his son,

20:02 hear my words, try out after true wisdom and understanding, for as you do, you will be unable to recognize the moral defilement of evil men, who in forsaking the ways of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, not only rejoice in evil and are crooked in their paths, they'll try to. drag you into their paths, but you can recognize them. And also by this wisdom and understanding, you'll have the ability to recognize the perverse and the immoral woman and to avoid her. What is he doing?

20:39 He's giving repeated, passionate, multi-motivated admonition to recognize those people and influences that would lead him into moral defilement. Chapter 3, verses 31 and 32. Envy thou not the man of violence, and choose none of his ways. You may see the man of violence, and there may be something about him that attracts you.

Avoiding the Man of Violence (Proverbs 3)

21:07 Don't envy him. You see, the father was a realist, and he realized that there might be in the emerging psyche of that young boy, that son of his, something that not only in terms of native inherent sinfulness, but in terms of his psyche, and personality, would be attracted by the apparent manliness of the man of violence. He says, don't envy the man of violence. If you find your heart in any way saying, I wish I were like he is, he said, don't do it.

21:38 That's a defiling influence to pattern yourself after the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. And then he brings in another motivation. For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah, but his friendship.

21:53 Is with the upright. My son, do you want to align yourself with the macho image of the violent man, and whatever it brings with it, that seems attractive? Or do you want to be an abomination to Jehovah, or have the friendship of Jehovah? Verse 33, would you have the curse of Jehovah upon your house, or the blessing of Jehovah upon your habitation?

The Evangelistic Nature of Evil (Proverbs 4)

22:16 You see, it is repeated, passionate, multi-motivated admonition to recognize, and to avoid. The defiling influence of certain people. Then we move to chapter 4, verses 14 to 17. After giving this admonition, chapter 4 and verse 7 to 14, I'm sorry,

22:43 to have a passionate pursuit of knowledge and understanding, take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, she is thy life. Now here we come again. Enter not into the path of the wicked. Walk not in the way of evil men, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass on.

23:07 When you discern a pattern of the wicked, don't put your feet in the first square foot of their path, let alone don't put both feet and start walking in it. Why? Because they are evangelistic to bring people into their path, for they sleep, not except they do evil, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. And I've written in the margin of my Bible, should not our sleep be taken away if we do not cause some to stand?

23:45 They lose sleep when they go to bed at night and say, we've not gotten a new adherent to our wickedness. He tells his son that evil men don't live with the attitude, live and let live. You've got your lifestyle fine, that's all right with me, just don't mess with mine. Life would be relatively easy as an upright man or woman, if that were true.

24:10 But evil men are aggressively and passionately evangelistic. Not only are they committed to do evil, but he tells his son, they lose sleep unless they cause some to fall. And the moment you put your foot in the first square foot of their path, they rejoice. They sleep well that night.

24:29 They gained a convert to their way. They are a good son. They are wicked ways. Now that's realism.

24:33 Are your kids being confronted with that realism? When you plop them down to indiscriminate TV watching, you know what you're saying? You don't believe there's any evil forces coming through the box trying to pull your kids into the way of evil. You let them get their own little Walkman, put it on and listen to whatever they want.

24:51 You really don't believe that inherent in the wickedness, the popular music of our day is an aggressive evangelistic attempt to make your kids. Ah, moral and lawless and godless hating all that is pure and holy and sacred. You really don't believe it. You poor naive willfully ignorant parent.

25:11 You don't believe it. You don't believe what Solomon says. That's why you're not telling it to your kids. That's why you're not repeatedly and passionately explicitly warning them, recognize evil defiling influences.

Guarding the Inner Life and Senses (Proverbs 4)

25:31 Yeah. Those people and circumstances that would lead them into it, but not so. The father of products chapter four verses 23 to 27, not only does the warning come with regard to things that can be seen. Now he turns to the inner life of his son, first 23 guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

26:00 Be careful about your heart. Then he says, put away from you. A wayward mouth, guard your mouth and perverse lips put far from you. Let your eyes look right on and let your eyelids look straight before you make level the path of your feet.

26:19 Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left, remove your foot from evil. He says, guard your heart, your mouth, your lips, your eyes, your eyelids, and your feet. How many of you remember the little song you learned in Sunday school? Be careful, little eyes.

26:38 What you see. Careful. The lives what you see, there's a father up above looking down at you in love. Be careful that lies, but you see.

26:48 Be careful, little years what you hear, be careful, a little ears. What You hear. There's a father up above looking down at you and love. Be careful.

26:59 Little years. What you hear. Be careful, little mouth. What you say be careful, little feet.

27:03 Where you go? A lot of good proverb. in that, isn't there? Guard your heart, guard your eyes, guard your mouth. What's he saying?

27:13 He's saying moral defilement comes from the motions of the heart, from the activity of your eyes, from the action and path of your feet. And he causes his son to recognize that there is no faculty he has that cannot be an instrument of moral defilement. Is that the way you're training your kids? Why do some of you as adults struggle with your passions for food? It's because you didn't have parents that taught you that your appetite for food was a potential tyrant that would bind you in the chains of adult gluttony. They let you stuff down all your twinkies whenever you wanted to. And now as a grown adult, you live with a bloodied conscience if you're in touch with the word of God and with constant shame. I'd like to get your parents and sit them down and say, now look, are you proud of what you did? Get on your knees and ask God to forgive you if they name the name of Christ

28:18 and ask your son or daughter to forgive you that they struggled with this horrible demon of gluttony. It's their fault, they're responsible, yes. They weren't duly worn as children. Every time they wanted a snack, they gave whatever they wanted. No teaching of the child that there's a time to eat and there's a reason to eat. And then they find you for eating. Be careful little hands what you touch and when you touch it. You say, Pastor, you sound fanatical. Show me that that's not what's inherent in this kind of warning. Is gluttony evil? Well then you've got to teach the children to recognize gluttony doesn't come in the front door at age 18 or 20 or 30. It sneaks through the cracks of the house when the child is little and develops patterns of eating unguarded by his father and mother. What a tragedy! When children eat, they feel more free. They feel more at

Avoiding the Immoral Woman and Her Consequences (Proverbs 5)

29:19 Children are reared without repeated, specific, passionate, multi-motivated admonitions to recognize moral defilement and those that would lead them into it. Chapter 5, verses 7 to 9. Just looking at the examples, text after text, particularly in these first nine chapters where the my son motif is dominant. Chapter 5, verses 7 to 9.

29:47 After he identifies the strange woman, that is, the immoral woman, he then draws a conclusion. Now, therefore, my sons, hearken unto me. Depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her.

30:08 If you don't get near her, you won't be in her bed. And if you're not in her bed, you won't be in an illicit sexual intimacy with her. So, keep far from her. And the way you keep far from her is you don't go near the door of her house.

30:26 If you don't go near her house, you won't be near her person. If you're not near her person, you won't be in her bed. And if you're not in her bed, you won't be in an illicit sexual intimacy with her. Then he gives motives.

30:37 Lest you give your honor unto others, your years to the cruel. Lest strangers be filled with your strength, your labors be in the house of an alien, and you mourn in your latter end when your flesh and body...

30:49 are consumed, and you say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof? Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that obstructed me. And verse 14, I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the assembly and congregation. Kyle and Dalish, I had almost fallen into every vice in the midst of the assembly and congregation.

31:13 In other words, in spite of all my privileges of being in the... assembly of God's people, I was only a step away from all of the wretched consequences of the defilement of an immoral woman.

31:33 Now, is that the way you're raising your sons and your daughters?

31:37 Giving explicit warning? Concrete warnings? Are you settling in their minds and hearts this multifaceted motivation of what will...

31:53 happen if they do not heed your warnings? Chapter 6, verses 12 to 14.

Discerning Worthless People by Body Language (Proverbs 6)

32:01 Now, he's going to help his son recognize the person who would lead him into moral defilement. Strange passage. A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he that walks with a perverse mouth, now notice, that winketh with his eyes, that speaks with his feet, that makes signs with his feet, fingers, in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually. What's he doing?

32:31 He's saying, now son, listen to me. Beware of the man whose multiple body language indicates he's no good.

32:41 Now, is this saying that anyone who shuffles his feet is a wicked and perverse man? No. According to one old gentleman, some of you have heard me say the story, it's indication he's full of the spirit. I had an old gent come to me when I was preaching somewhere in Pennsylvania.

32:55 Decades ago, he came and with a very sanctimonious look took me aside. Brother Martin. Yes, sir.

33:04 He said, I know you were full of the Holy Ghost tonight. I said, oh, you did? How did you know that? He said, I watched your feet.

33:13 I said, you what? He said, yeah, I watched your feet. He said, I noticed any man full of the Holy Ghost always is continually shuffling his feet while he preaches. Now, the poor man was a bit off beam.

33:27 And in his mind, that was a mark of being full of the spirit. Is Solomon saying to his son, anyone who nervously shuffles his feet is automatically a perverse man? No, not at all. But what he's doing is saying this, my son, remember that usually men of iniquity, worthless men, those who will lead you into moral uncleanness, have a body language that reflects their lack of walking with integrity before God.

33:56 They have a perverse mouth. Their yay is not, yay and their nay is not nay. They traffic in double talk and double innuendo. They wink with the eye.

34:05 They're talking to you, saying one thing, and someone else is looking at them. And they go like this. What they're saying is, I'm putting it over on him. So he says, you watch him.

34:14 Keep your eyes on his all the while he's talking to you. And if you begin to turn away a little bit, watch him in your peripheral vision. If you see him looking to someone else with a knowing look going like that, you'll know he's taking you for a ride. Watch his eyes.

34:27 He winks with his eyes. He speaks. His feet. Very interesting.

34:32 When they caught these characters in New York City, the whole bunch of the building inspectors who were on the take, did you all read about that some months ago? They caught a whole bunch of them who were on the take for thousands of dollars. They'd go to a building site. Everything was up to code.

34:48 Needed to stamp. Tony knows about this. Gotta have the approval. And these guys would not give the approval unless you greased their palm with, here's how they gave the signals.

34:57 They didn't want, thinking somebody might be wired. They didn't speak with their mouths. They had a signal. If they touched the nose, that's a thousand.

35:05 Pulled the ear, that's five hundred. Touched the nose and pulled the ear, that's fifteen hundred. They had verbal signals worked out. Why?

35:13 They were ashamed of their words. That's what Solomon's talking about.

35:18 Who speaks, makes signs with his fingers. Speaks with his feet. He uses the body language of a sneaky and an unprincipled man. Watch out for him, he says.

35:31 Now, are you preparing your kids for that?

35:35 Are you teaching them how to distinguish an honest salesman from a dishonest one?

35:41 You better.

35:43 Or hundreds of hard-earned dollars, thousands, will be wasted by your children. You've got to admonish them. Say, Pastor, we start doing all of that. We spend all kinds of time with our kids.

35:56 That's right. You're getting the message.

36:00 You're getting the message. It means you're spending time with your kids. That's right. That's right.

36:09 And it means you've got to give up your toys. You've got to say no to yourself. Live a life of self-denial. You're going to teach them how to identify evil people by even their body language.

God's Hatred for Specific Sins and Sowing Discord (Proverbs 6)

36:21 Chapter 6, verses 16 to 19.

36:25 He didn't say six things the Lord hates and seven are an abomination to him. It's quite evident from your conscience what they are, son, so avoid them. No, he gets specific. Haughty eyes.

36:36 I can remember as a father having to speak to my own daughters and saying, get that haughty look off your face.

36:46 Haughty eyes. What are haughty eyes? You see your kid with haughty eyes, you've got to tell them God hates that. That's an evidence either of pride, unteachableness, or rebellion.

37:01 Get that look out of your eyes. God hates it. It is.

37:11 Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. When you're dealing with the lives of your children, do you tell them God hates? God hates lies and why he hates lies.

37:21 It's a contradiction of his very character and that's why he'll put liars in hell along with murderers who kill those made in his image and idolaters who worship another God. Do you work, as old Baxter said, screw into the conscience of your children that lying is not just one sin among many. We're not Roman Catholics with various grades of sin. But the Bible does make distinction in sins.

37:47 And among all the sins God hates, here are some of the crowning sins that elicit his hatred. Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood.

37:59 What a marvelous place to condition the conscience of your daughter that never, never, never, under any circumstances, if life is implanted in her womb, even if she's unconverted and in the way of an evil woman, does she allow the courage to go in and kill the life that's in that womb? That's to add sin to sin. God hates those that shed innocent blood. And what blood is more innocent than the helpless life in the womb of a potential mother?

38:31 And you condition the conscience of your daughters to recognize and hate any suggestion under any sophistry whatsoever, any smooth-talking doctor, any persuasive, attractive woman such as the one who's the head of the, what's, what department is it? That very attractive black woman. What a subtle, demonic influence she has. You know the department.

38:58 What's the department she's the head of? It just eludes me now. Planned Parenthood. That's it.

39:04 Brilliant woman. Articulate. And when she gets defending a woman's right to abortion, if you haven't screwed into the conscience of your daughters and your sons that God hates, those that shed innocent blood, you leave them. And all of them are such persuasive, educated, articulate people.

39:26 This is your job, mom and dad. Passionately, repeatedly to warn of moral defilement and those who would lead them into it. A heart that devises wicked purposes. You teach your children they're not to lie in their bed thinking how they can get back at their brother or sister for the wrong done to them that morning.

39:46 You tell them that they lie in their bed conceiving ways to do wickedness. God hates that. The heart and the mind and the ability to reflect were not given to conceive evil, but to think God's thoughts after him, to think thoughts of repentance and faith and noble thoughts of things that are pure and lovely and virtuous and praiseworthy. Philippians 4.8 We must teach our children to hate the devising of wicked purposes, feet swift in running to mischief, a false witness that utters lies. And look at the last. He that sows discord among brethren.

40:26 Where do children learn to be good, peacemaking church members when they're made to be good, peacemaking members of the family?

40:36 You parents that tolerate tension and discord in the home, you're breeding a church full of tension and discord in the future.

40:48 You're not making the children face their part in family tensions, own their guilt, confess it to the one they've wronged. And genuinely express their goodwill and heal the breach. You're not doing what God says. Nurture them in the admonition that is of the Lord.

41:08 Nurture them. Bring them to their full development, ready to be good church members, ready to be good fathers and husbands and mothers and wives who hate discord, who are conscious whenever there is the slightest, just the...

41:26 You know, when the piano begins to go out of tune, all of us have a different level at which that dissonance registers. Some of us can catch just the first couple of vibrations when it's off-tune. Others, the thing can be a whole half-tone down and you're blissfully ignorant. I mean, that piano can make some of us grind our teeth and you're sitting there singing away.

41:46 It doesn't bother you at all. Well, that's a matter, for now, let's say, of moral indifference. I don't say it's a matter of indifference in making God's praise glorious. And you can educate.

41:57 You can educate your ear. More about that in the future. That's just a little seed I'm tucking in the ground and patting like you do in the spring when you sow your seed. But, oh, listen, the conscience of your kids and their sensitivity to discord can be educated.

42:10 If they grow up in a home, and I've seen this in cultural patterns where people can holler at one another, scream at one another, there's no open reconciliation by confession, seeking forgiveness, tokens of restored communion. It's just forgotten with the passing of time. They don't know how to deal with discord.

42:30 They've learned to live with it. That's just a part of life. And if they see that between you and your husband or wife, you tolerate it between the children, is it no wonder then as adults they think discord's no big deal? God says he hates it.

42:45 And he hates the person that sows it. The one who sows the discord. I raise him the little question. Did you know that?

42:54 Did you see that? Why do you? That's all you need to do. Sow the little seed of discord.

Warning Against Flattery and Lust (Proverbs 6)

43:01 This is warning of moral evil in all of these various ways. Very quickly now. Chapter 6, 24 to 35. Again you come back to the evil woman and notice what he says.

43:16 Keep thee from the evil woman from the flattery of the foreigner's tongue when some woman begins to tell you how handsome you are, what a hunk you are, how cute you are, how masculine you are, how fast, how fascinating you are. He says, My son! Beware of her flattery. Flattery is always excessive praise that terminates upon the one who gives it.

43:39 They've got something they want from you. Flattery is the price they pay to get it. So he says, Beware of the flattery of her tongue. Now look.

43:47 Beautiful balance. Lust not after her beauty in thy heart. If she's a beautiful woman and you've registered, it's registered in your eyes, you can't help that. You see a beautiful woman, you can't look at her and say she's ugly.

44:00 That's to deny what God's made her. Is there anything wrong with seeing a beautiful woman and saying she's beautiful? No. But he said, Once you recognize that, don't let your heart get fixed on her as a sexual object.

44:12 And the moment your appreciation of her beauty begins to feed desire, turn away. Put your mind upon something else. Guard your own heart, my son. Don't lust after her with your heart.

44:25 But now look at the balance in the last part of the verse. Neither let her take you, nor let her take you with her eyelids. Don't let your eye be the inlet of lust. Don't let her eyes be the hooks to get you.

44:41 Isn't it amazing? No new thing under the sun. How does a woman take a man? She sends out her first signals with her eyes.

44:53 The eyes either say, My sexuality is a sealed garden until I'm married. Or if a married woman, her eyes say, My sexuality is, a sealed garden opened only by my husband. That's the language of the Song of Solomon, not my language. But the woman that's on the prowl, her eyes say to the man that she thinks would be an enjoyable partner, My garden's open.

45:22 Come on in and enjoy yourself. He says, Don't let her take you with her eyelids. Think how realistic. Would to God Solomon had taken his own admonition as an older man.

45:36 Now are you telling your son, this fathers? Are you sending them out unprepared for the experience snare of the eyelids of experienced women who keep their own notches on the rifle of their sexual conquest of innocent young men?

45:58 This is what we're to do in our admonition. Warn those that would lead us into moral defilement. Then he gives the motivation. See, multiple motivation.

46:07 For on account of a harlot, the man is brought to a piece of bread. It'll bring you to poverty. The adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, in his clothes, not be burned?

46:20 Can you walk on coals and not be scorched? Whosoever goes into his neighbor's wife, whosoever touches her, shall not be unpunished. And he goes on to give motive after motive after motive to enforce what? To enforce his passionate, detailed warning against the defiled, unbecoming uncleanness of an immoral woman.

46:45 You say, he was a dirty-minded old man. No, he was a godly, realistic man at this point.

46:51 Are you doing this to your sons and daughters? Oh, but my son or daughter, come out of your dream world, will you? Oh, but my son...

47:01 Come out of your dream world.

47:05 In this age, long before they come to poverty, they are bombarded with things calculated to a... Waken their sexual curiosity.

47:18 And if you don't get there first with the warnings of God, you can count on it. The world will park in that mind that's been left bereft of this kind of admonition.

Requirements for Godly Admonition and Parental Example

47:31 Chapter 13, verse 20. Choose your friends carefully. Have a marvelous quote from Arnaud. Don't have time to go into it.

47:37 Chapter 19, verses 5 and 9. Chapter 22 and verse 24. Those were the other texts. But let me close quickly now as I just take...

47:47 In a few minutes, I'll go till 25 till. If this major element of godly admonition is to mark our nurture, it's going to require two things of us. More than two, but at least these two. Number one, a consistent example of such discerning recognition of evil and evil men and the practical expressions of holy avoidance in our own lives.

48:10 That's the first requirement. You better embody someone walking by these admonitions.

48:18 I had my own son-in-law tell me of the situation where he and his twin brother were in a car as young men, sitting with an older man professing to be a Christian. And they parked to the light in the summertime, apparently an attractive woman, scantily clad, walked from the left curb to the right, and they watched as this so-called mature Christian man eyed her from the left curb to the right, and the impression never left them. How could that man say, lust not after her beauty in my heart?

48:48 I hope you live to have your son tell you as my own son told me. I said, son, we've gone places together. I said, I'm no Robert Redford, but I'm reasonably masculine. I keep myself in reasonable shape.

48:59 I said, God's been very good to me. I've never known a woman die in me. He said, Dad, I've been with you when I've seen him. I.e., you just don't pick up on it.

49:06 I said, bless God. Bless God! My eyes were looking straight on, may they ever till I go to my grave. But all my admonitions to my son would mean nothing if he saw me walking through the mall with proud eyes, smiling eyes.

49:22 One of the men gave me this poem. I'm going to close in a moment as I read this. Second thing it will require is that you have a realistic understanding. There's no way a parent can fully insulate his children from the defilement of evil or evil men.

49:37 The whole assumption of Solomon's admonitions is, son, you're going to face moral defilement and those who would lead you into it, and there's nothing I can do to insulate you from it. Therefore, I must admonish you.

49:52 More on that, perhaps, in the review next week. I close with this poem. A boy to his dad, appropriate for Father's Day.

50:00 To get his goodnight kiss, he stood beside my chair one night and raised an eager face to me, a face with love alight. And as I gathered in my arms the son God gave to me, I thanked the lad for being good and hoped he'd always be. His little arms crept round my neck and then I heard him say, four simple words, I can't forget, four words that made me pray. They turned a mirror on my soul, on secrets no one knew.

50:36 They startled me. I hear them yet. He said, I'll be like you.

50:47 God help us. God help us. Let's pray.

50:55 Holy Father,

50:58 we acknowledge we live in a world that is defiled, defiled by sin. A world system that is committed evangelistically to drag us and our children into its orbit of increasing defilement. May the grace of Christ keep every one of us and may that grace so motivate and instruct us that we will wisely, passionately, repeatedly admonish our children in this crucial aspect that we've studied together this morning. Amen.

51:32 Oh God, by the Holy Ghost, come down upon every parent in this place and wrench us loose from all self-indulgence and laziness and naivety and may we be given grace to bend our hearts and energies to the task of admonishing our children that they may be nurtured in the Lord. Amen.