Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 17. Proverbs 17. I'd like to look at one verse,
verse 21. Proverbs 17, 21. He that begetteth a fool doeth
it to his sorrow, and the father of a fool hath no joy. Humanly speaking, there is joy to a mother, father, that has a
child born to them. Children are a precious heritage
of the Lord. Children. Great happiness and delight as
these children are born and they grow and mature. But if that
child be found in time, to be one that departs from the honorable
principles that have been taught him by his parents. If that child goes in the way
of rebellion, folly, then the happiness that his parents once
had is turned to grief. They grieve. He's a heartbreak to his mom
and dad and everybody that knows him. I would tell my children as they
were growing up, all the kids were about two years
apart, Gabe, then Sarah, then Hannah, then Becca, all about
two years. And they all had to be disciplined. and disciplined often. And they
knew the penalty for disobedience, not for mistake, but I determined
whether or not it was a mistake. But if it was for disobedience,
they knew what was going to happen. And I would tell them, I don't
like to do this, but I'm going to tell you this, if I don't
discipline you, that I'm disobedient to God. And if I'm disobedient
to Him, then I'm going to get the spanking later. They've all
told me later, Dad, I never understood what you meant when you said
you were going to get the spanking later. As they grow up, as they
get older, as they get out from under that position in my home
where I was the one that was distributing the discipline And
I tell them, I said, now listen to me. Nobody, nobody wants to
be around a rebellious child. Not another child and not an
adult. Nobody wants to be in the presence
of an unruly, rebellious child. Nobody likes them. They are foolish. The Scripture
says, ìHe that begetteth a fool, he that births brings forth a
fool, doeth it to his sorrow, and the father of a fool hath
no joy.î Now, you know often Iíve said, you read these Proverbs,
and thereís always, Proverbs is always good advice. Itís good
advice. Carnally speaking, humanly speaking,
itís good advice. If that's only the point that
we see, if that's all we see, just the natural human approach,
you know, raising kids and teach them to be good citizens, go
to school, get an education, try to get you a good job, be
honorable, be right, if that's all it is, that's good advice.
But that has no significance whatsoever to our spiritual state. So now that we've considered
the natural approach and the truthfulness of it. I mean, that's
truthful, that's scriptural. You know, I'm telling you, mama,
dad, this and that, your children unruly, you discipline them. You know, what society has to
say, you know, we ought to obey God rather than men. Because I'm going to tell you
something, you're smart for it. If you don't, they will too.
And though these things be true, universally true, this verse
speaks spiritually, not carnally. Now, this is especially true
when it comes to godly parents who find time that their children
have no interest in Christ. That's the first thing. There's
a whole lot more that I'm going to try to bring out in just a
few minutes. But that's the first thing. There's no interest in
Christ. If there be a David, and he has
an Absalom. David loved Absalom. Absalom
was David's son, and he loved him. He loved him. Oh, Absalom. Absalom. If there be an Aaron,
the priest, And he have a Nadab and a Bahu, these two young boys,
they were priests also. They were the ones that, you
remember, they were supposed to get the fire from off the
brazen altar. That brazen altar, that altar,
when you walked in, there was that tent that went around the
whole outer court of the tabernacle. And when you walked in through
that front door, into that outer, I mean, that big, you know, first
thing you saw, there's the brazen altar. That's the altar, that
sweet-savor altar that gave the sweet-savor sacrifice unto the
Lord. That was for the Lord only. That was setting forth the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that brazen altar,
that's where you sacrifice, that sacrifice there on that altar.
And these two boys, you're supposed to get the fire from the brazen
altar. And that was the fire. that you
would put on the altar of incense, that savory smoke, symbolic of
the intercession of our precious Savior, our great High Priest.
They would take the fire from the brazen altar, put it on the
altar of incense, sprinkle the incense on it, and there is the
smoke. Well, I don't know where they got the fire, but the Scripture
says it was strange fire. And they took that strange fire
and they put that strange fire. Can you imagine the disrespect
that was shown to our Lord, you know, even in that type? And
God killed him. I mean, he killed him right there. And he told Moses, he said, you
tell Aaron, don't you say a word. And Aaron didn't say a word,
but that was still his voice and he loved him. If there be
an Eli, an Eli, oh, that sweet Eli that was raised and taken
care of, that little Samuel. And Samuel came, and Eli oversaw
him, and Samuel didn't know the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Samuel
when he was young. Samuel was not converted at the
time. That's what Scripture says. He
didn't know the Lord. But the Lord spoke to him. He got up a couple
of times, two or three times. He went and talked to Eli. Eli
said, did you call me? Eli said, I didn't call you.
About the second or third time, Eli knew that the Lord called
him. He said, next time if He speaks to you again, you should
speak, Lord. For thy servant heareth. And
he did. But Eli had two boys. They were Hophni and Phinehas. They were young priests. They were disrespectful. Oh,
just heinous things that they did. Disrespectful in the temple.
God killed them. Killed them. But I'm telling
you, that was Eli's boys. He loved them, you know. The
Scripture sets forth. He that begetteth a fool doeth
it to his sorrow, and the father of a fool hath no joy." Prayer is continually made on
behalf of that child, pleadings by that believing parent. For mercy, Lord have mercy on
my children. Call my children out of darkness.
Lord, have mercy according to Your everlasting covenant. Lord, according to Your will,
Your pleasure. Lord, have mercy on me." And
that Syrophoenician woman that came to the Lord, you know, and
the Lord told her, he says, not bit, not meat, that I should
give the children's bread to dogs. She said, Lord, you're
right here. I'm a dog. I'm a dog begging
at your table. The Lord had mercy on that woman. These children, wives, husbands
that know not the Lord in mercy. Those that know not, I am telling
you, the believing family, the believing part of that family
prays for them. They grieve for them. They ask
the Lord to have mercy. They pray unto God continually,
calling your name. I know they do. Asking the Lord,
have mercy. And while they do, they truly
rejoice in the Lord, knowing that God is going to have mercy
and compassion on whomsoever He will. They know that! And they don't overstep their
bounds. They cry unto Him and ask, If you will, like that leper
that came to the Lord Jesus, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. The Lord said, I will. I know you can. I don't know
if you will, but I know you can. But I think there's also a reference
in this verse to those that press men to make a false empty profession
of faith. Now, bear with me here. I grew up in false religion,
false free will religion. We had certain nights we would
set apart for visitation. We were going to go out and we
were going to win souls. We were going to win souls for
the Lord. We were going to knock on doors,
ask somebody if we could come through, go through the Roman
road, Some of you may not know what the Roman road is. It's
just taking Scriptures that you try to strategically, you know,
you read these verses and you ask them certain questions and
try to get them on their knees and try to make them go through
a sinner's prayer and say a few words. Once they've said those
few words, you're saved. You're saved. You're there. And don't doubt it either, because
you don't believe God would lie to you, do you? You don't think
God would, you know, I'm telling you, boy, and I'm telling you
there's another notch on my Bible right there. You know, you come
back and we'd have bragging rights, you know, and I'm telling you
the truth. Well, Mama, that's the truth.
I had 27 visitations this week. One, three souls to the Lord. He that begetteth a fool. He that births a fool. Listen to this Scripture here.
Matthew 23.15. I was talking to Brother Neal
a moment ago before the service. I think this is the heart of
this passage right here. Matthew 23, 15, our Lord is speaking
to the scribes and Pharisees, woe, He says, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you compass sea and land
to make one proselyte. Now listen, there is nothing
wrong. There is nothing wrong. The Lord
told His disciples, you go into all the world, preach the gospel.
And those that are converted, you baptize them in the name
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's not making a proselyte
that he condemned them. But what they were doing is they
were making a proselyte under false pretense, false religion. Not for the good of their souls.
Not for the glory of God. But to add them to their roles
and to increase their coffers with their money and just, you
know, underhanded reasons. You accomplish sea and land to
make one cross, and when he's made, you make him two-fold more
the child of hell than yourselves. You make him twice as mean as
you are. Look at Acts 14.2. See, the Pharisees,
I mean, you know, I mean, when you talk about a Pharisee, I'm
telling you, buddy, the Lord told them, He said, you're like
white sepulchers, but you're full of dead men's bones. You're
like snakes. You look good on the outside,
but you're mean as a devil. These right here, here's what
they would do. Acts 14.2. Well, I shall read 1 and 2. It
came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into
the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude,
both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the
unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds
evil, affected against the brethren. They caused these Gentiles, now
who normally weren't It meant bad and evil against the believers. Now these scribes and Pharisees,
he said, you come from sea and land to make one proselyte, and
when you do, you've made him twice as mean as you are. Twice
the child of hell that you are. These men, these women that make
these These proselytes trying to birth these people. They are trying to beget someone. They are begetting fools is what
they are doing. People sitting under false religion.
You know the Scripture says that the gospel, the gospel of God's
free grace is the power of God and salvation. Now you know that
there is no other message that the Spirit of God is going to
bless. You know that. So if that's the truth, and someone is standing
and preaching like these scribes and Pharisees, works-based salvation. If you're telling somebody, all
you've got to do, now I'm telling you, all you've got to do, this
is it, right here. You walk down the aisle and pray what I pray.
You repeat this prayer that I repeat. When I say it, you say it. And
once you've prayed that, and you say, Lord Jesus, come into
my heart, and He's going to do it. Or if you tell them, say,
now listen, all you've got to do is join this assembly. All
you've got to do is speak in tongues. I know for a fact, I've
had people tell me that those that would try to get the evidence
of the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues, that they would have
people standing over them and doing the gibberish so that they
could hear it, so they could pick it up. And if they could
hear what was going on, then they would start saying it. And
once they said it, they said, you got it. That's it. You got
it. You're saved. You're saved. Or you tell somebody,
all you've got to do is get in the water. Just get in the water. The water is salvation. that begetteth a fool, doeth
it to his sorrow in the father of a fool." He has no joy. You
know what he has is pride. Pride. Man by nature wants to see results. They want to see results. I don't
care if you're in business. You guys that are in business,
you want to see results. I want to see profits. And false
religion is the same way. We used to have these board things. We'd have how many people brought
their Bibles. I hope everybody brings a Bible. Take these Scriptures and look
at them. How many Bibles were read? How many daily Bible readings?
How many visitations? I want to see results. So I have to pressure somebody
to do something. I pray God have mercy and save
His people. I know He's going to. I pray
the Lord have mercy here. I'm so thankful that God Almighty
has been pleased to maintain this 60 years, right at 60 years. I'm around 54, 55. You know, when the Lord was pleased
to raise up this assembly, 60 years, the miracle of God's grace,
that God's allowed it to be here. I know He doesn't have to. I
know that. But I can tell you this, I know that He's going
to maintain it His way. And He's not going to do it by
manipulations. We don't come to beget fools.
We're going to preach the gospel. and ask the Lord to bless it.
Ask God to have mercy. Call out His people. Boy, I tell
you, the Lord of Glory is the only one that has never begotten
a fool. Anything that I've ever done,
I'm telling you, all I can do is beget a fool. Preach the Gospel? I'm commanded to do that. Hear
the gospel, God's people assemble themselves together to hear the
gospel, reading the scriptures, searching out the Lord in prayer
and supplications. But God Almighty begets wise
men, makes them wise unto salvation. Four short points in closing. Number one, Almighty God, begets
his people out of absolute necessity. John 3, 3, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. No one sees the Kingdom of God,
God's honor, God's glory, God's grace by faith until the Lord
gives them life first. You must be born again. You must be begotten from above. It is absolutely necessary. All men have not faith. Faith
is a gift of God. We must be born again. Men born in Adam are ruined in
the fall and are born with a mind that is wrathful against God. Spiritually blind to death and
halt. Born with a heart that is dead
to God, dead to their need of a Savior. You leave a man alone. He doesn't know he needs a Savior.
He doesn't care. He doesn't care. You that know
family or neighbors or friends, I'm going to ask you something.
Those that have no interest in the gospel, do they really care? They don't care. They don't care. I mean, can
you, you that know Him, just the thought, can you imagine,
can you just even imagine the thought of leaving this world
without a substitute? We were at Mary Bell's funeral
here last Saturday. yesterday, a week ago. And I
looked and there was her body. Truly, I have good confidence
that she knew her Lord, gave a good confession of faith. I thought, oh my, what does all
this other stuff matter now? What does it matter? What does
it matter if the stock market went up or down? What does it
matter? What does anything matter? You
leave this world, and I'm telling you there's one thing that matters.
What? Thinking of Christ. I'm telling
you to leave this world with a heart of confidence toward
God in Christ. You leave this world in peace.
You must be born again. Secondly, those born of God are
born by God's power. A man will beget a fool. God
Almighty in power begets children of God. John 17, verse 2, "...as
Thou hast given Him..." Here's the Lord praying that great high
priestly prayer. "...Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him." You're giving Him power over all flesh. It takes the power of God to
beget a child of God. Anything else begets a fool. It takes God. Creation doesn't
create life. It can't create life. Without
Him, we can do nothing. Why? Because the Scripture says
we're impotent. We have no power. How impotent are we? Listen to
this Scripture. Isaiah 40, 17. All nations before
Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than
nothing and vanity. Somebody says, you know, we all
have a little good in us. No, that's not what Scripture
says. We're counted before Him as less
than nothing. It takes the power of God. Only grace does that. Thirdly,
those born of God are eternally Secure. Kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Have you ever watched somebody, you know, they may come in for
a while and they may stay for a while, maybe stay for a week
or a month or a year or ten years or something, but then finally
they leave? Why do they leave? Scripture
says because they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would have surely remained. They would have stayed. Why?
Because God would have kept them. God doesn't beget fools. Men
beget fools. God begets children of God kept,
kept, kept. I give unto them eternal life
and they never perish. Never perish. They're taught
by the Spirit of God through the hearing of the glorious gospel
of Christ, kept. They're irresistibly called and
made willing in the day of God's power, they say. And fourth and
lastly, those born of God shall never be ashamed because God
is not ashamed of them. Hebrews 2.11, for both he that
sanctifieth the Lord, and they who are sanctified, God's people,
are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them
brethren. Brethren. In Christ, with Christ,
we have one Father, one Father, one family, One body united in
Him. One covenant. One faith. One
baptism. He is God over all. The Lord
Himself, Lord Jesus, who made flesh, not ashamed, to call His
bride brethren. Brethren. Isaiah 62, verse 4. Thou shalt
no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed
desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
that is, My Delight, and thy land Beulah, that is, Married. For the Lord delighteth in thee."
Oh, the mercy of Almighty God! To God's people, Whom the Lord
Jesus Himself says of her, you've ravished me, you've stolen my
heart with just one of your eyes. I still can't enter into that
fullness of that, I think. Lord, what tenderness, what mercy. He that begetteth a fool shall
sorrow for him. The father of the fool has no
joy. But Almighty God, He doesn't beget fools. He begets children
of God. Sons of God. Because you are sons, He sent
forth the Spirit of His Son to you. Lord, bless these words
to our heart. Keep us by your power and mercy
and grace for Christ's sake.