Turn with me now to Proverbs
17. Proverbs 17. I'd like to look at verse 6.
Proverbs 17.6. Children's children are the crown
of old men. And the glory of children are their fathers. The heart of this passage right
here is talking about love and respect and thankfulness within
a family. the offspring, the heritage,
the fruit of aged men and women. That continuing heritage, that
is crowned. That is that which surrounds
him to his delight. That's what the word crown means.
It's His joy. And the glory, that is the boasting,
the honor, and the beauty of the heritage, the children and
the children's children on down. Their glory of the children is their fathers. Their fathers
and grandfathers on and on. their principal, their chief. Now, is this passage speaking
physically or spiritually? Yes. Yes it is. That family where there's love,
harmony, peace, honor, honor, When it's established in righteousness, it's indescribable joy, contentment, comfort, pleasure. And it's a proof of God's blessing. I want you to look at Philippians
4, or just let me read it to you. Chapter 4. I want you to listen to the words
of the Apostle Paul. He is spiritually speaking. Paul says in Philippians chapter
4, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy
and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. There was the Apostle Paul setting
forth the joy, the crown, that which surrounds him with pleasure
and thankfulness and delight in the Lord. Are those that God
Almighty has called out of darkness? Through his ministry is what
he's talking about. That's the way he talked to Timothy.
He would talk to him and he said, you're my dearly beloved son.
My son in the faith. My brother. Almighty God has established
within His church a thankfulness, an appreciation for what God
Almighty has been pleased to do. And it follows through. Even as a family, you take the
aged, the great-grandparents, then the grandparents, right
on down to the children, then the grandchildren, then the great-grandchildren. When there's communion and peace
and harmony and respect and appreciation for one another, there's just
nothing like it. You just want to be around one
time a year. We try to, and I know a lot of
you do this, you try to get together with your kids. I try to get
together with my kids and we'll all get, you know, we're going
to have to start with Granny. And you know, here's my mother,
but she's a grandmother's son and a great-grandmother. to some,
and then a great, great, you know, I'll stop there, Granny. We get together and we just have
just such a time of fellowship and just love and appreciation. And not only is it that physically
I get together, but that Almighty God would give some within our
family, a heart for Christ. And there's fellowship in Him. And it's such a joy and a peace. And the parents love to be with
the kids and the kids with the parents. Now, I realize that
in this world, I realize there's no perfect family. Oh, but I
tell you what, I'd like to look just for a few minutes past this
world's family and behold, for just a moment, that family that
has been established eternally in Christ. That family that has been looked
upon, everlastingly loved by Almighty God and in electing
grace For His love for His own. He said, I drew you. I called you. I chose you. That family, the children, whose
aged one, the Ancient of Days Himself, is their glory. His love for them and their love
for Him. Almighty God, to what depth can
we speak of His love for us? We're lost in that wonder. I
spoke a minute ago about the Lord commanded. He said, New
Commandment, I give you that you love one another as I've
loved you. Oh, what a thought! What would that be like? One
day it will. One day it will. One day, miss,
there will be no more of this disrespect. One of these days,
there will be no more of this dishonor. One of these days,
there will be no more tears. One of these days, I'm not going
to grieve over myself anymore. I'm going to be like Him. We'll see him as he is. What
wonder! What mercy! Psalm 127.3 says, Lo, children
are an heritage of the Lord. Humanly speaking, yes. No doubt
about it. But especially children of God. Born into His family? Children
born into this bride visibly? Always been there. Always been
the Lord's. But to behold the Lord birthed
them. What joy I think about the blessing
of Almighty God when the Lord calls out His people. under the ministry of the preaching
of the gospel. And when God Almighty calls them
out of darkness, God Almighty imparts into them
life. And they're new creatures. They're
not the same anymore. Old things passed away. They
don't act the same way anymore. Not believers. Not believers. No believers. That old flesh
is still there, but there's a new nature there. And those two natures
strive against one another, but I'm telling you, sin does not
have the dominion over God's people. No. No, they don't. Children. The heritage of the Lord. Chosen
in Him, redeemed by Him, called by God's Spirit, given life. And here's what they are. They're
heirs of God. Whatever you have as parents,
that's your children's inheritance. Oh, what we have in Him. What
do we have? Well, I can tell you this. Eye
hath not seen. Ear hath not heard. It's never entered into our heart. It's never entered into our heart. We talk about things that are
so wonderful and so marvelous and so magnificent, and our heart
rejoices. Those two on the road to Emmaus
heard our Lord opening up the Scriptures concerning Himself.
And they said, our heart burned within us when He opened unto
us the Scriptures. They never realized until they
left this world what God had prepared for them. Never. They were like the Queen of Sheba.
She came to see Solomon. She said, the half of it has
never been told me. We don't even know the half of it. Nothing. Though we fell in Adam, I know
this, nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God. Not those that's eternally been
found in Him. We're His heritage. We're His
people. His bride. The Lord, His people,
His children, those He's ever stood for as the surety, He surely
shall have them. What would you not give for one
of your kids? What would you not give for one
of your kids? What would you not do for them?
If it's going to come down between your life and their life, what
would you do? You love them? You love them.
Which one of your kids would you let perish so that you could
live? You don't love them. You don't
love them. But I tell you this, He laid
down His life that they might eternally live. He hath made
Him sin. who knew no sin, that we might
be the righteousness of God in Him. He who is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, Almighty God, whoever trusted
in Him first and justified His people, declared them no guilt
charged to them. Justified, that's what that word
means. The law looks at the case and the law says, nothing charged
here. Nothing chargeable. Does that
mean that we're not guilty in ourselves? No, we're guilty.
If we say we have no sin, we make him a liar. Here's the truth
of it. It's not charged to us. What
have we done any differently than anybody else? Nothing. Nothing. You thought I thought the same
thoughts that every other person has ever thought. The same acts
of rebellion. We did the same thing. Here's
mercy. God wouldn't charge you with
it. He didn't charge you with it. What was the difference in Jacob
and Esau? What's the difference? The grace
of God. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I've said before, did God have
a right to do that? That's His heritage. The Lord's
children, His church, His bride, His beloved, where He is, He's
going to have them with Him. They're His crown. They're His
crown. They are His glory. He loved them, redeemed them.
And they're going to be with Him. Look at Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2. Verse 10 to 13. Hebrews
2. 10 to 13. for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For
both he that sanctifieth, that is the Lord, and they who are
sanctified, that's His people. are all of one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee, and again I will put my trust in
him. Again behold I and the children
which God hath given me." Our Lord has revealed in that day the great joy and rejoicing of
which He is due all the honor and the glory and the praise
in that great day. Father, I and the children that
You gave me. How many has He lost? None. How many does He have? All of
them. How many of them are there? A number that no man can number.
But God knows. And they'll all be there. That's
His glory. His heritage. And these children,
precious in His sight, they are His spiritual bride. He's always been her husband.
Eternally. For her, He gave His life. A ransom to put away her guilt.
The Father, as I said a moment ago, that justified her eternally
in the Son. And here's God Almighty's declaration
concerning her. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. That's what you just read, Carl.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. But no condemnation. She's going to be presented,
robed in His righteousness, that he might present it to himself."
That is the church, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish. In this world, the bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ, now this is how she sees herself. She's weak. And she must ever look to her
husband who is her strength. A wife truly is comforted as
she looks to her husband. He loves her. He's given himself
to her. Obligated himself to her. Promised
her. I give you my word. Give you
my heart. It's her husband, it's his bride. Listen to this precious
passage of Scripture. Psalm 128, verse 3, "...thy wife
shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house." Have
you ever seen ornamental vines, kind of growing up a house? These
vines that grow up. Hanging on to the brick or to
the stone or whatever, whatever going up, you know. Thy wife
shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. That vine is what the Lord relates
to and compares His bride to be. Weak. You know what's holding
up that vine? The house. The brick. The stone. That's what's holding
up the vine. She's fastened by His grace and
power to Himself. He is her strength. It's not
her strength that's keeping her. His strength. But though weak
in herself, this is what the Lord says about her. She's a
fruitful vine. But all of her fruit is of the
Lord. She has nothing to glory in save
Him. The fruit is of God's making. The fruit of God's Spirit. Psalm
80, verse 14-15, "...Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts.
Look down from heaven, behold, and visit this vine. Can you
say that? You know. Lord, visit this vine.
Lord, I know that in me there is in His flesh, in His world,
in His body, no strength. Lord, visit this vine and the
vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted, and the branch
that Thou made as strong for Thyself. That's how a believer
talks. Lord, I know, I know, I don't
have anything boasting. Lord, in myself, I'm a weak creature. I know, but You're my strength.
Lord, You're my hope. You're my foundation. You're
my sustenance. Thy Word, that's a light to my
path. I worry about hitting my heart
and my sin against You. Thy children, So be like olive
plants, round about thy table, sitting and resting at the table
of God's mercy." And I think about old Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth
was Jonathan's little boy. Jonathan and David loved each
other. There's a beautiful picture. Jonathan and David loved each
other. And Jonathan knew that God was going
to give David the kingdom, going to take it away from Jonathan's
daddy, Saul. And Jonathan said to David, he
said, listen, whenever God gives you the kingdom, would you show
mercy to my family? And David said, I will. I will."
And David asked one day, is there any yet of the house of Saul
that I can show mercy to for Jonathan's sake? And he said, well, there's a
little fellow that's lame on both his feet, can't walk. That's
us. No ability. Got to be carried. No strength. Where is he? He's over in Lodabar. You go
get him. You go fetch him. And you bring him to me. And
he's going to sit at my table. Everything that was ever taken
from him is going back to him. For Jonathan's sake. I'm doing
this for Jonathan's sake. Is there any of the house of
Almighty God that God could show mercy to for Christ's sake? Not
for my sake. For His sake. You go fetch him. You go get him. And you bring
him to me. And he's going to sit at my table.
And he's going to eat at my table. And everything that he ever needs
is going to be taken care of by me. Oh, the thankfulness. I'm sure
that Mephibosheth had. Number one to David, but for
his daddy's sake. Oh, how thankful we are, and
should be, that Almighty God would show mercy to us for Christ's
sake. Lord, You're worthy. Lord, it
was Your covenant. Jonathan and David had a covenant.
Almighty God in His eternal covenant to show mercy. This is all my
hope, David said. He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. like olive plants. Oh, the blessing
to be found as an olive plant, evergreen, in Him who is our
life. Children's children are the crown
of old men. Children's children are the crown
of old men. Isaiah 62, 3 and 4, Thou shalt
also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem
in the hand of our God. Thou shalt no more be turned
forsaken, neither shalt thy land any more be turned desolate,
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. That means my delight is in her.
And thy land Beulah, that is, married. For the Lord delighteth
in thee, and thy land shall be married." Almighty God's attitude
toward His people. They are His crown. He set His
affection on them because He chose to. Nothing in them that
was worthy of it, He loved them because He loved them. He is
merciful. And her attitude toward him and
the glory of children are their father's. Last verse, Jeremiah
9. Jeremiah 9, verse 23-24. Here's his attitude toward them. Everlasting love. Provide for
them. Provide for him. Provide for
him. Draw him to himself. Keep him.
He loved him. And her attitude toward him,
Jeremiah 9.23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might.
Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me. that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." There's no joy like a family where there's respect, love,
appreciation. You moms and dads, you're thankful
that your children appreciate you and love you. and look to
you, guidance, direction, ask your advice, because they love
you, respect you. And you look at them as your
heritage. The Lord has blessed me. One
of these days, we're going to see, one of these days, we'll
all be taught and we'll know as we're known, for Christ's
sake,