The Christian Marriage & Family

… St. Paul, Thy Word. 1, 8, 6. O glorious God, most high, and near thy people we listen in. Always, like God, we hear today. Still far and nigh, and onward we'll go. Blessed can come and snatch away the sin that led the life of man. Who rest in quiet, and slowly rise, but once to spring, yet by and by. Who rest in quiet, and sleep to win them, and to die. Born from this love, thou art set free. This gracious death, and pleasures way. Where to exult, they prove to be. In our exultant joy, their gracious reign. All to thy wise, and gracious ways. Patient and meek, they would be found. Thy spirit swift, thy lawful reign. Made meek and good, and fruitful ground. When shall thy word, their hearing see? And of this land, for which it reigns. Grail of a hundred fold in thee. A harvest worthy of thy name. Amen. Good afternoon, everybody. Nice to see you again, or for the first time. The topic of this afternoon, of this first lecture, is, as we were told, the Christian marriage. And I would like to start rereading the verse we had yesterday, right at the beginning, from Psalm 127. Psalm 127, verse 1. Unless Jehovah build the house, in vain do the builders labor in it. In order to help us to understand the good teaching of God concerning our marriages, we started to use a picture that we all know very well. The picture of a house that is being built. And we have seen that our personal life can be compared with a house that we build on the ground. The ground is the Lord Jesus Christ. And also our families and our marriages can be compared with a house. The architect is God. And the foundation is the same foundation as the foundation of our lives. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have been considering yesterday several basics, cornerstones. And we have started to think of some bricks, important bricks, elements of marriage according to God's thoughts. This afternoon, we will first of all consider a little bit the roof of our house of marriage. We will then think about the doors and the windows. And afterwards, we will have a look into different rooms of our house. First of all, then, the roof of our house. And I would like to read one short verse in the Song of Songs, chapter 2. The context, of course, is a different one. But I just want to use it as an illustration of what the roof means. Song of Songs, chapter 2, verse 4, in the middle. And his banner over me is love. I would like to compare the roof of our house with love. A banner or a standard is a flag that shows the soldier in the warfare for whom they fight. They have to look up in order to see that banner or standard. And if we look up and see above, we see the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, which is over our house of marriage. Can you imagine a house without a roof? That would be impossible. A house without a roof is a cold house, is an unsupportable house. It will soon become wet and you can no longer live in a house without a roof. We need a roof. The roof is love. Love is ever so important when we are married or when we are going to be married. Without love, marriage is nothing, although love is not all. It is not enough to love each other. In order to be happily married, more is needed than love. But without love, it doesn't make sense really to be married. And when love is cooling down, when the roof is gone, the breakdown of our marriage will soon be there. So, love really is something very, very important. Otherwise, our house of marriage will soon be a ruin and no longer a house where we like to live in. Now, maybe there is hardly a word in our modern languages, be it English, be it German, be it French, that has so much been misused and abused than this word love. We use it for everything and for nothing. We fall in love. We are in love. We read a love song or a love story. We love a cup of tea. We love nice food. And we love each other. Even in a negative way, the word love is used. Somebody has a love affair. Somebody makes love. He goes to bed with somebody with whom he should not go to bed. We call it, let's make love. Or people call it, let's make love. So, this word is really misused. It is really abused. It has been perverted. But nevertheless, love, divine love, is something absolutely needed to be happily married. Now, if we look to the Holy Scriptures, we will find this word love in three different expressions or aspects or view angels. If you look to the Old Testament, you will find a love that we might call the erotic love. If we read the story of Samson, he loved Deliah, and that was nothing else but an erotic love. He loved her body, nothing else. If we consider the story of Amnon and Tamar, we have exactly the same thing. It is told that Amnon loved her. He wanted to sleep with her. And the end of the story was that he hated her. Dear friends, dear young friends, erotic love is never ever a foundation to get married to somebody. Never ever. You don't love the body of someone, of a nice girl maybe. If you do, it's just erotic love. And that is not enough, by far not enough. Let us be beware of erotic love. That has nothing to do with sexuality within our marriages. This is a gift of God, we will see that afterwards. But it is not a basis on which we can build our house of marriage. The second expression is called affection. Affection is also a kind of love. And it is also used for the love of God to us. Affection. Affection means that there is something in the object of my love that makes me love him. Certain characters which attract me, positive characters that attract me, and I start to feel affection, to feel love for someone. And normally, many, many marriages start by affection. And as couples, we should be linked together with connection, with affection. I could tell you a lot of things that attract my affection when I think of my wife. I won't do that now because she is present, but I could tell you a lot of things. Affection is necessary when we are married. But again, I say, it is not enough. It is not enough to have affection. There must be more. And there is a third expression that is used in the New Testament, and that is really love. That is the word that is usually used for the love of God. Not always, but it is usually used for the love of God. You may surely have heard the Greek word. It is agape. This is a love that loves without finding a reason in the object that I love. When God loved us, we were sinners. We were His enemies. This is what Romans 5 tells us. There was no reason in us to love us. Not at all. It was the contrary, but still God loved us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loved us without any reason on our side. It was only God's love that loved us because God is love. And when we look into the New Testament and read about marriage in the New Testament, we, as husbands, are exactly exalted to love our wives with this divine love. We should love our wives. For sure, the wives should love their husbands. Now, what does it mean to love the partner with whom you are married? It is not easy to give a definition of what divine love is because God is love and we cannot explain God. So, it is difficult to give a definition of what love is. But, dear friends, it is very easy to see what this love is. The effects of this love can be seen easily. We only have to consider God's love towards us and immediately we will understand what love means. I just quoted John 3.16, this well-known verse. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So, love equals to give. If somebody loves, he is willing to give. He is not expecting something. God didn't expect anything from us. But He has given everything to us, His only begotten Son. So, to love your wife, to love your husband, means to be ready to give everything for him. Not to expect, but to give. To love your partner means to do everything that is for his benefit. Not to be selfish, but to be unselfish. To be prepared to give a sacrifice. To give a helpful hand whenever needed. To give your partner the needed time. We live in a very busy time and we have no time. But to love our partner means to share time with him. So, to love our partner means really to give him. Not to be selfish, but unselfish. Not to see our own profit, our own benefit, but to see the benefit of the partner. And be sure, the one who sows love, he will automatically reap love. Love will always come back. There are many things in this world that we can waste. But for sure, one thing we can never waste, that's love. It's never in vain. If you love, you can be sure that love will come back. Now, maybe somebody asks, who shall start to love the other? The husband or the wife? To the husbands, I say we, the husbands. To the wives, I say you, the wives. I have to start. You have to start. Don't wait for the other. Start. Waste? No. Start giving love. Start sowing love. It will surely come back. When we open the New Testament, we will find a threefold exhortation for us, husbands, to love our wives. And the Apostle Paul sets a very, very high standard. He says, love your wives as Christ loved the church. That is the highest standard possible. But God is not giving us a lower standard. He gives us this standard. Like Christ loved the church. Well, how did Christ love the church? He loved the church and gave himself for the church. Again, you see, love and give, that goes together. That is closely linked together. If we love, we give. Love cannot be demanded. Love cannot be required. Love must always be acquired. That is the difference. Don't require love. Acquire love. We can compare love to a very delicate plant. We have to look after this plant day by day. We have to cultivate it really with care. This is what is needed in order that love is really the controlling element in our marriages. Now, let us consider, husbands, let us consider for a brief moment this exhortation, love your wives. And I would like to do it in a threefold way. First of all, I would like to emphasize the word, love your wives. What is the opposite of love? Last year, when we were in Africa, I had a lecture on the same subject. And I could ask those who were listening, and they gave answers. And I asked them, what do you think, what is the contrary of love? And everybody says, hatred. And I said, yes, you are right. But that's not all. Is there anybody here who would say, I hate my wife? Of course not. But there is another counterpart to love, and that is indifference. Love versus hatred, but also love versus indifference. Maybe we don't really care about our wives any longer. We live our life. She lives her life. Indifference. No, no indifference. Love your wife. Be interested in her well-being. That is the exhortation, the encouragement that the Word of God has given us. That is a challenge to see that she feels well. Love your wives. The second way we can stress this little exhortation is, love your wife. Not another wife. Love your wife. Don't start a relationship with somebody else, with another wife. Not necessarily a sexual affair, but don't start an emotional relationship to another wife. Maybe you find somebody, a woman, which is more intelligent than your wife, and you start an intellectual relationship with her. No. The Word of God says, love your wife, not other wives. Be friendly to everybody, of course. Talk to everybody, of course. Don't get me wrong. But love your wife, and don't show too much interest to other wives. And there is a third way to read this verse, to stress it, to emphasize it, and we can read, love your wives. Maybe somebody says, oh, I know my computer better than my wife. I know my car better than my wife. No. The Word of God says, love your wife. Try to know her, how she works. Yesterday we made this comparison, software-hardware. And we said the software of a woman is different from the software of a male being, a man. So try to learn the software, how the software of your wife is working. It's something very, very interesting. So love your wives. Our wives are our number one in this world. Of course, generally speaking, number one is the Lord Jesus. Number two, our wives. And number three, our children. You remember that Hebrew servant, what did he say? I love my master, my Lord. I love my wife. I love my children. This is the right order. Number one, generally speaking, is God, is the Lord. Number two, our wives. But on the earth, number one, our wives, and then our children. Our wives are once exalted, encouraged to have affection for her husbands. That is Titus 2. That is part of the teaching of the elder sisters to the younger ones, that they should be attached, emotionally attached to her husbands. That is love, but that is affection. And in Titus 2, you will also find a certain order. Maybe we read that verse, Titus 2. Verse 4. There you have the teaching of the older sisters, that they may admonish the young women to be attached to their husbands. That is the word affection, love. To be attached to their children. And then it is said, diligent in homework. There is also an order, isn't it? First, the husband. Secondly, the children. And thirdly, the household. Dear sisters, your number one is not your household. Your number one is your husband. Your number one are not your kids. They are precious, and we will think about that later on. They are extremely precious. But your number one is not your children. Your number one is your husband. This is the order given in Titus 2. Now let me have a word, a short word, on the doors and on the windows. Considering the doors, I would like to make the following application. In Colossians, we have the expression, an open door of the word. And I would like to apply this to our picture of the house of marriage. It is not the sense, it is an application that I would like to make. The door speaks of the word of God that comes in and that goes out. It is ever so important that the word of God plays an important role in our lives as being married. We should read the word of God together. We should talk over it. We should meditate it together. We should go together to the meetings where the word of God is preached. Of course, we read the Bible personally. This is ever so important to do so every morning, every evening. But we should also do it together. Read the word of God together. When we are thinking of the windows, I have in mind the windows that Daniel had. The open windows towards Jerusalem. And these open windows of Daniel talk about his prayer life. And also prayer is a very important element of being married happily. Without praying together, it is very difficult to really live a married life according to the good thoughts of our God. We need prayer. Of course, we need the personal prayer. And in our personal prayer, we pray also for our partner. And we give thanks for our partner. Not only to pray, but also to give thanks for the partner God has given me. But we should also pray together. Unfortunately, there are many Christian couples who never pray together. That is a big mistake. You shouldn't do it. We should pray together. I recently talked to somebody who was not happily married. And we talked about the reasons. And I was told that they never prayed together. So the reason why they had big problems was easily found. At least it was one of the reasons for their breakdown that they didn't pray together. So prayer is an important element as the Word of God is a very important element. Now, I would like to make a little house tour now. And we shall have a look at some of the rooms. And first of all, I would like to turn to Colossians. I would like to read one verse. Colossians chapter 3. Let me first of all say that I would like to consider four rooms. The first room we would like to have a look at is the sitting room or the living room where we talk together. Where we have mutual exchange of opinions and of thoughts. The second room is the bedroom. And we would like to have some words on sexuality. The third room is the bathroom. And the fourth room is the kitchen. I will tell you later why this is important. Now, considering the living room or the sitting room, I would like to read from Colossians chapter 3, verse 16. Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. The living room, the sitting room is the room where we have mutual exchange. Communication in our marriages is of the utmost importance. We need to talk together. And that is not a one-way road. It is not one who always talks and the other who always listens. Communication is always like this. It is talking and listening at the same time. Now, yesterday we have been considering the differences between the males and the females. And of course, one of the differences is that many females like to talk a lot and many males don't like to talk at all. So, dear sisters, if you talk a lot, don't talk too much. And dear brothers, if you don't like to talk, try to talk a little more. It is important to have a mutual exchange. The Apostle John says, from mouth to ear, from ear to mouth. So, vice versa. Communication. And if you look to marriages that are really at risk, one of the reasons is, not always, but very often, that they don't talk enough. They don't have time to talk. It is very important that we have this exchange with our partner. And there is an exchange on at least three levels. There is a spiritual exchange, exchanging thoughts, opinions, ideas, or facts. There is also a mental communication and emotional communications to exchange our feelings. Sometimes without words. Sometimes I just need to look at my wife and I know exactly what she is feeling. Sometimes I don't, unfortunately, but sometimes I do. Because I know her very well. But this exchange of feelings, of emotions, is very, very important. Yesterday we have seen that marriage is a unity. And this unity comprises also our soul. A soul unity. If you are married, you have to open your hearts. You have to open the door of your hearts 100%, not only 50%. You are like an open book for your partner with whom you are married. You have to show your feelings, your emotions. This is part of communication. And again, a lot of marriages suffer from the fact that one of the partners or both of the partners do not open their souls. That the wife doesn't know the feelings of her husband. And the other way around. Communication of emotions is a very, very important thing. And a very practical thing. And of course, there is also the physical communication. Not necessarily that what takes place in the bedroom. But physical communication. Holding hands, for example. A kiss. An embracement. That is communication without words. And that is also very, very important. There are several stages or steps of communication. Now I refer to oral communication, to our talks. We can exchange empty phrases. Like good morning, how are you, was the meal fine? So just empty phrases. We all use them and that's okay. But that's of course not enough. The second step, the second level is the exchange of facts. We talk about the facts of life. The husband comes home in the evening and we exchange what happened during the day. Exchange of facts. It is important to exchange facts in order to know what happened to the other one during a day, a week or whatever. A third level or a third step of communication is to exchange thoughts and evaluations. Not only the facts, but to see what does the partner think about this fact. How does he evaluate it? And the fourth level is the highest one. That is again the exchange of feelings. Not only to see what he thinks or she, but to see what he or she feels. So when we are really traveling in the first class, you remember what we had yesterday, in the first class of that marriage train, we really have this exchange of feelings and we open our souls. Missing communication is the creeping death of our marriages. So let us talk to each other. Teaching and admonishing one another. The second room I would like to consider is the bedroom. Sexuality. Let me say first of all that sexuality is a gift of God. There is nothing bad in it principally. It is a gift of God. But every gift of God is linked with our responsibility. We can use the gifts of God in a way that God is glorified, but we can also misuse the gifts of God. Take an example. A good glass of wine is a gift of God. We can drink it and we can give thanks for it. But we can abuse this gift of God and drink too much. The same is with the food. We can use it to glorify God. We can overeat ourselves. And it is exactly the same with sexuality. Within the frame given by God, and the frame is marriage. That is the protecting fence that God has given us for the use of sexuality. Within this fence we can glorify God. But going outside that fence, we abuse, we misuse this wonderful gift of God. And we should never do this. God has given us this wonderful gift. And he has given us the gift of sexuality for two reasons. One is reproduction. Multiply and fill the earth. This is what God told right in the beginning. And this is repeated at least three times, if not four times. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. Reproduction. But dear friends, this is not the only reason. God wants us to have pleasure when we are married. Not before. Not outside this fence. But within the frame that God has given us, sexuality is a gift of God that we can enjoy and that we should enjoy. The Israelite who was married was told to gladden his wife. To have pleasure. And let us very briefly read one verse from the Proverbs, chapter 5. That makes it very clear that God has no problem at all with sexuality. We sometimes have a problem, but God has not. He does speak about it in an astonishing open way. Proverbs, chapter 5, it says, verse 15, Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running water out of thine own well. Thy fountains shall be poured forth as water brooks in the broad ways. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed, and have joy in the wife of thy youth. As a lovely hind and a graceful roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at all times. Be thou ravished continually with her love. Dear friends, that is sexuality within the frame of marriage. It is emphasized, thy own cistern, thine own well, thy fountains, thine own, thy fountain, wife of thy youth. Not with somebody else, but with the partner with whom you are married. And let us have a word in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians, chapter 7. This is a very important chapter when it comes to sexuality within the border of marriage. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 2. On account of fornication, let each one have his own wife, and each woman have her own husband. That makes it very clear that God does not want the use of sexuality before we are married. Dear young people, God has given us the gift of sexuality. But please, please wait until you are married. Not before you are married. This is a gift you can use only when you are married, and not before. And those who are married, this gift is exclusively given for you and your partner with whom you are married. No escapades. No love affairs. No, with your own partner. This is the clear instruction the Word of God has given us as to this very important subject. Unfortunately, we won't have time enough to be more in detail on this important topic. But the Word of God, the New Testament, has different verses, different passages, where it speaks very clearly about this subject. We have 1 Corinthians 7. We have 1 Thessalonians 4, where we are exhorted to be together with our wives, not in a passionate desire, not just fulfilling fleshly lusts. We have Hebrews 13, where it is said that the bed should be undefiled. We have 1 Peter 3, where we have the weaker vessels, and we should take care not to demand too much from our wives, we as husbands. And never forget, never forget, marriage is a unity of soul, of spirit, and of body. The three always belong together. You can't separate that. Sexuality, if I may express myself like this, is the icing on the cake. It's the fulfillment. It's not the main thing. The main thing is the cake, not the icing on the cake. But the icing makes the cake even nicer. But the important thing is the cake. So let us not exaggerate. And let us never separate sexuality from the spiritual, emotional unity that we have with our wives. And you remember the example, the picture we had yesterday. This is for us, husbands, much more difficult than for our wives. You remember the chest of drawers compared with the wardrobe. We have the one drawer sexuality. We can open it and we can close it. So the danger that we separate, we men separate, sexuality from the unity of spirit and soul is much bigger than it is for our dear wives. Very briefly, the third room is the bathroom. The bathroom speaks of being clean. It speaks of washing. And I would like to compare it with the resolution of conflicts. Or we may use a modern word, conflict management. That is very important. There is no marriage without conflicts, without guilt, without the need of forgiveness. I never saw a couple that never failed. That is impossible. So conflict management is something very important. And I would like to read one verse from Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 32. And be to one another kind, compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you. There are some basic principles. I can just briefly mention them because I don't want to be too long this afternoon in this first reading. There are some basic principles. The basic principle is forgive how and like Christ did. He forgave us heartily, completely, and forever. This is the way we should forgive. Do you know what forgiveness out of the microwave is? You forgive it for one day, one week, one month, one year, but the day comes when you warm it up again. That is forgiveness from the microwave. Don't do that. Christ has forgiven us completely different, and we should do the same. The basic elements, of course, of forgiveness is first a confession. We should name the problem. And then a real forgiveness, the final stroke. There is a motivation to do that. Why should we forgive? The motivation comes back to the first point we had this afternoon. The motivation is love. If I love my wife, no, if my wife loves me, she will forgive me. And also the other way around, of course. Christ has forgiven us because he loves us. Let us never forget. The last room is the kitchen. What are we doing in the kitchen? In the kitchen, we are working. I hope that there are not only the wives working in the kitchen. It's good for us husbands to help them also in the kitchen, but that's not my point. The kitchen of our marriage house speaks of working together. It is something great, really great, to be able to work together for the Lord. And there is one great example in the New Testament, of course. This wonderful couple Aquila and Priscilla, who are mentioned six times. They were really working together for the Lord, a wonderful challenge. And if we read the verses where they are mentioned, we won't do that now. But if we read these words, we will find them together. Ministry. Hospitality. Spiritual help. Love for the local assembly. Flexibility as to the place where they were living. We find them in different places. So, dear friends, let us look for opportunities to serve the Lord together. Let us take over tasks together. Not only resolutions of the heart, but let us really take over and let us finish our tasks together. Things that we can do together. Examples are, for example, hospitality. Home groups. Working with children. Working with old people. Distributing tracts. Visiting old people, sick people. There are lots of things that we can do together. Of course, serving the Lord is a, first of all, a personal responsibility, but we can also do that together. My last point is just one verse. Maintenance. Maintenance for a house is a very important thing. If you don't do it, after some years it will be an old house. You will see the cracks and maybe one day it will break down. So, maintenance is important. And it is also important for our married lives. I would just like to read one verse. Colossians chapter 3 again. Verse 12. Of course, again, the context is a different one, but let us apply this verse to our marriages. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved. Don't forget, your partner is elect of God. He has a high value. Election speaks of value. Holy, he belongs to God, and he is beloved of God. As elect of God, be holy and beloved. Now, we should have bowels of compassion, first. Kindness, second. Lowliness, third. Meekness, fourth. Long-suffering, fifth. Forbearing one another, sixth. And forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any. Even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye. And to all these add love. Again, there is love. To all these add love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts. And I may add, in your marriages, to which also ye have been called in one body. And be thankful. And be thankful. We have seen marriage is a wonderful gift of God. Gift of God, that means we should be grateful. We should thank the Lord Jesus Christ for this wonderful gift. In general, but also very, very precisely. Give thanks for the wife God has given to you. Give thanks, God, to the husband he has given to you. And let us take heed that in our marriages, God, our Father, is glorified. The great, great mystery, Christ and the assembly, should be seen in our marriages. The earthly and temporary relationship between husband and wife, they reflect the heavenly and eternal relationship of Christ and his church. And that is the great end, the end in itself, of our marriages. With love and patience, Lord, we cry. As present from the very door. We hope that the hour, Lord, will come. Lord, we are high. Thy praise we owe. Ourselves to Thee, we lowly yield. Rain down within, upon us alone. And let us to Thy glory live. Here let us be, by my display. In all my gracious, heavenly shine. And hasten, Lord, expected day. When Thou shalt own that we are Thine. …

… Gott, our Father, love me thy children, who in thee have rested thy word. I will stand in their hearts responsive, as thy Spirit strives to move. Lord, I will put thee in the knee, as the hands that bowed betrayed. Guide me on, and put me in the knee, ever on my Godless way. Amen. The subject that is before us tonight is the Christian family. And again, this is a very important subject, because considering the world around us, the teaching of modern scientists, we will immediately find out that what they say and what they practice is not in accordance with what the Holy Scriptures tell us. So again, the spirit of this age is influencing us, or is trying to influence us, and we have to take heed to what the Word of God tells us about the Christian family. The whole problem starts when we try to give a definition of what is a family. People of this world tell us a family is everywhere where people live together. This is a family. No matter if there are father, mother, and children, wherever people live together, younger ones and older ones, that should be a family. If we look into our Bibles, we will easily find out that the Christian family is composed of a father and a mother and at least one child, in most cases more than one child. Of course, there are exceptions. Maybe there is only a father left or a mother left, but the normal family, that is father, mother, and children. Again, the subject before us is not only important, it is also not easy. Not easy for the same reason that the subject of the marriage was not easy, because of the failures and the shortcomings of the one who is going to present this subject tonight. I told you yesterday that I have brought with me my wife. I left my children at home, so they could tell you a lot of my mistakes that I made being a father. God gave us in his grace, God in his grace has given us five children and ten grandchildren, and with this, unfortunately, a lot of opportunities to make mistakes. So I don't tell you how to do it because I did it. Unfortunately, in many cases, I did it not. So maybe you can learn a little bit from my negative experiences. Again, the subject before us is a very comprehensive one, so we have to set up certain priorities. We can't cover all the passages in the Bible that speak about our families. That would take, I don't know how long, a very, very long time. There are many instructions, instructions given in the New Testament, examples, positive and negative examples. But again, I would like to underline that the subject before us, the Christian family, is also a wonderful subject. Children are a wonderful gift that God has given us, a gift that he has given us. We should be thankful for the children, for the young people that God has given us, but we should also take up our responsibility that is linked to the responsibility that God has given us. I would like to start reading a verse from the book of Genesis. As a headline, Genesis chapter 33. Chapter 33, verse 5. And he, that is, Esau, lifted up his eyes and saw the woman and the children, and he said, Who are these with thee? And he, that is, Jacob said, Now please pay attention. He said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant. Every child is a gift of the grace of the loving kindness of our God and Father. Let us never forget the children that God has graciously given thy servants. Maybe there are couples here tonight who do not have children. That is a great sorrow, isn't it? And we, those to whom God has given children, we should be very, very careful when we talk with couples who do not have children. We should pray for them. We should have a lot of understanding for them because it is not easy to have no children. I know couples who have no children who have used this position in order to serve the Lord Jesus Christ even more. I know a very dear couple, and the woman told me that after some years she accepted that she has no children, and she said, We are children free, free to serve the Lord. And they use the time they have, the spare time they have, in order to serve the Lord even more. It is true, having children is a huge investment in time. It is a huge investment in time. In time you cannot use or spend for other things. But on the other hand, it is an investment that will always have a return on investment. It is a sowing, and afterwards it will be a reaping. So we would really like to consider this very, very important topic. And also for those who do not have children, also for the young people who are not yet married, it is very important to study this subject. Maybe one day you will be father and mother, or you will be in contact with others who have children, who are maybe in trouble, in need, and whom you could lend a helpful hand. The Lord Jesus Christ would like to have our children for himself. But there is another one who would also like to have our children for himself. And that is the enemy, that is the devil. You remember the story of Pharaoh in Egypt. He told Moses, you can go. The old ones, they can go. The young ones, they remain in Egypt. You remember Daniel in Babylon. Away from home, the devil wants the children for him. There is an area of tension and of conflict. The Lord says, the children for me, and the devil says, the children for me. And politicians know that he who has the youth has the future. Pharaoh knew this. Nebuchadnezzar knew this. And also today the world knows it very well. He who has the youth has the future. So the great challenge for us is really to raise them up, our children, to the glory of our Heavenly Father. So that they really accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord. We will refer to this later on. There are three great principles in Scripture concerning our families that I would just like to underline first of all. The first principle is called salvation. The second principle is called service. And the third principle is called fellowship. Salvation. The Lord wants to save our families. You and your house. When Noah entered the ark, God says, you and your house. The prison guard in Philippi asked, what shall I do? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ was the answer and you will be saved, you and your house. God does not only want to save individuals. Of course, every individual is responsible to respond to the call of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the thought of God, the intention of God is to save families. That's the first principle. Second principle, God wants us to serve Him as families. You remember one of our last points regarding marriage was to serve God as couples in our married life. But if God gives us children, this is a great opportunity also to serve Him together. Remember Joshua at the end of his life, this wonderful statement. But as for me and my house, we want to serve the Lord. Serving the Lord together with our families, with our children, is one of the great principles of Scripture. And the third one is fellowship. In Deuteronomy, it is said several times that the families, the parents together with the children, should appear in the presence of the Lord in order to worship Him, in order to have fellowship with Him. And dear friends, it is really a great, great treasure, a great advantage when God gives us children and we appear together with our children in the presence of the Lord Jesus and have fellowship with the Father and the Son together with our children. So these are the great principles, salvation, service, and fellowship. Now, to make the subject a little easier for us, I would propose to do it in three sections. In the first section, we would just very briefly like to see what the Lord Jesus Himself, when He was on earth, said about our children. Secondly, we would like to consider the great and perfect example of bringing up children. The perfect example of education. We all who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a Father in heaven. He is bringing us up. He is educating us. And He is not making any mistake. So we will consider the great example, God as Father dealing with us, His children, and we want to learn how we act and deal with our children. Thirdly, God willing, tomorrow we will see a human example taken from the Old Testament. We will consider the relationship between Abraham as an earthly father with his son Isaac. An earthly example. Not a perfect one, but a very, very good one. Abraham and Isaac. So, let us turn first of all to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, to see what the Lord Jesus taught about children. Mark, chapter 10, and we read as of verse 13. And they brought little children to Him that He might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those that brought them. But Jesus, seeing it, was indignant and said to them, Suffer the little children to come to Me. Forbid them not, for of those is the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter into it. And having taken them in His arms, having laid His hands on them, He blessed them. This is a wonderful example how the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with children. And this is an example for us how we, as parents, should deal with our children. They brought little children to them. Who brought the children? Who brought them? What would we answer? The general answer is the mothers brought them. But scripture doesn't say that. I am sure mothers did it, but they brought little children. To bring children to the Lord Jesus Christ is a task for everybody. Not only for the mothers, not only for the fathers, but for every child of God. If there are young children around, it's a challenge for all of us to bring them in contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, in our local meetings, we all can help to bring children to the Lord Jesus Christ. He should touch them. And having taken them in His arms, having laid His hands on them, He blessed them. I could envy these children. I would have loved to be a child in the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth. What a wonderful scene before us. The Lord Jesus was asked to touch them. To get in touch with them. But He did much more than to touch them. He took them in His arms. That speaks of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us not forget, dear parents, the Lord Jesus loves our children. They are the very object of His love, of His divine love. He took them in His arms. He laid His hands on them. That speaks of security. Real security can only be given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we take care of our kids. For sure we do. We try to protect them as good as possible. But there is one in heaven who once was on earth. He is the one who is not only able to protect us, He will also protect our children. And the third thing is He blessed them. That includes that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to the little children what they are in need of. Oh, how wonderful. The Lord Jesus Christ. He loves the children. He protects the children. And He is the one who is going to bless them. A wonderful Savior is Jesus, our Lord. But then comes in our responsibility. The disciples rebuked those that brought them. And the Lord Jesus said, let them come. We, parents, we adults, in a more general way, can be an obstacle. We can be a hindrance for our children to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The children normally don't have a problem to accept Jesus as their Savior. They want to come. But we, parents, we adults, can prevent or hinder them to come. How that? We can hinder them by a selfish, egoistic behavior, for example. We can hinder them by inconsistency. If there is a divergence between our words and our doings. And children will realize that very easily. If we tell this and we do something else. If we preach water and we drink orange juice. Children will realize it. And that can be a hindrance for our children to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. Suffer the little children to come to me. Don't hinder them. To come to me. I would really emphasize these words. To come to me. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to have our children. He wants them to accept Him, first of all, as Savior. And secondly, as Lord. It is one thing to accept Jesus as Savior. This is the beginning. This is the starting point, of course. But the second point is as well important. And is as important as the first one, to accept Him also as Lord. But the Lord Jesus wants both. To be Savior and to be Lord. And this makes it very clear what is the great target of education. We will later on talk a little bit about education. But the great and the main target. There are different targets in educating our children. In bringing them up. But the main target. The main point. The most important point is that our children accept the Lord Jesus as Savior and as Lord. Savior is the one who saves them. Who gives them eternal security. Forgiveness of their sins. Accept Him as Lord means to follow Him and to serve Him. And these are two different things. First of all, they have to be saved. And secondly, they should follow and serve the Lord. You remember the great principles? Salvation, service, fellowship. And there is a wonderful example in the Old Testament. And I would like to draw your attention to this wonderful example. This is the young Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 1, I think. Yes. I like this example very much because the mother of Samuel is called Hannah. Verse 22. Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, I will wait until the child is weaned. Then will I bring him that he may appear before Jehovah and there abide forever. To appear before the Lord, I would say this is accept Him as Savior. Abide there forever, accept Him as Lord. Verse 28, the end. And he, Samuel, worshipped Jehovah there. This is fellowship. Chapter 2, verse 11. In the middle. And the boy ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest. That is service. Verse 18, chapter 2. And Samuel ministered before Jehovah. A boy. Children. A boy, Samuel. He ministered the Lord Jesus. You, as children, you can already serve the Lord Jesus Christ when you have accepted Him as your Savior. Two questions. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Do you know that He died for your sins? That your sins are forgiven? Second question, if yes, are you ready, are you prepared to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, a child, together with your parents, together with other adults, like little Samuel did? And the story ends, for the time being, in verse 26. The boy, Samuel, grew on and was in favor both with Jehovah and also with men. Isn't that a wonderful example? He appeared. He abode. He worshipped. He ministered. He grew up. He was in favor of others and in favor of the Lord. That is the main point. A wonderful example, the example of Samuel. That is really wonderful to see that. Now, let us turn to the perfect example. Our Father in Heaven. We all have a relationship. We have a two-fold relationship to God. Minimum, a two-fold relationship. Or the typical Christian relationship. I want to put it this way. The typical Christian relationship is a two-fold relationship. We are children of God because we are born of God. We are sons of God because we have a personal relationship to Him. So, our kids, our children, they are born of their parents. Normally, there are exceptions when somebody has adopted. Is that the correct word? Children. But normally, children are born of their parents. But secondly, there is also this relationship father, mother, son, and daughter. It is not only by birth, but it is also a personal relationship that exists. We are children of God because we are born of Him. We are sons of God because we have the adoption He has put us in a certain position before Him. Now, when we think of our Heavenly Father, what is the first thought that comes up? What is the first thought that comes up if you think that the Heavenly God is your Father? I'm sure the first thought is, He loves me. Yes, our Heavenly Father loves us. 1 John 3, See what a love the Father has given us that we are children of God. Our Heavenly Father loves us. The warming and enlightening sunshine of the divine love touches us every day of our life. And dear friends, this is given us as an example. We should love our children. This is the first important lesson to learn. We should love our children. I'm sure many here would know where love is mentioned for the first time in Scripture. It is not the love between Adam and Eve. No, it is not. I am sure Adam and Eve were linked together, were clinged together, were glued together with love. No doubt about it. But God does not mention love when He speaks about Adam and Eve. Genesis 22 is the first time where love is mentioned. Abraham took his beloved son. And for sure we know why. Because Abraham and Isaac reflect something of the divine love of the Father to His Son. God loves His Son. But this is also given as an example for us to love our children. We have that wonderful example of the Hebrew servant who said, I love my Lord. I love my wife. And I love my children. And again, Titus 2, we had this verse before. The mothers should love their children. Yes, we are exhorted. We are encouraged to love our children. Now, what does it mean to love our children? We have been thinking about love before. What does it mean for a husband to love his wife and for a wife to love her husband? And the same is valid when we ask the question, what does it mean to love our children? So love children involves, includes, to give the children all they want. Is that love? If we give to our children all they want, we spoil them, we pamper them. But we don't love them. God does not give us all that we want. Fortunately, He does not. Imagine a moment God would give us everything that we want. No, He does not. He gives us that what is good, what is necessary for us. So we should take care to give our children that what is useful, needful, necessary for them. And to love our children means to have an attitude to give sacrifices, to invest. I already said, it is a huge investment. We have to invest. We have to invest time. We have to invest money also, yes. A child costs a fortune. But it's love. We don't even ask how much it costs. I don't know how much. I would never ask. I would never make a calculation. It doesn't make sense to do that. But it costs, yeah. It costs a lot. Money, time, interest. Nights where you cannot sleep. The mothers, you know what I'm speaking about. Parents, the fathers hopefully the same. So, loving our children is easily said, but not always easily done. The Apostle John tells us to love not with our tongues, but in deeds and in truth. Of course, we should tell our children that we love them. That is also valid for our marriages, for our wives and husbands. To tell them that we love them. But that's not all. That's not the main point. The main point is not to tell them that we love them. The main point is to show them that we love them. In deeds and in truth. Word and action should be on the same level. A correspondence between our words and our deeds. So, we would like to encourage us to really love our children. And to have this high standard before us. That God, our Heavenly Father, loves us. And by the way, this is also valid in a general aspect. When we think of older brothers and sisters towards the younger ones. That does not only refer to a real family. Father, mother, children. But this refers also to the family of God in a general sense. We, the older ones, should love the younger ones. The second point concerning our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Is that we as His children have a full confidence in Him. We call Him Abba Father. That means we have full confidence and access to Him. Peter says that we invoke Him as Father. We pray to Him as Father. And we do that in the full confidence that He loves us. And that He is not against us. But that He is for us. We can trust in Him. A hundred percent. And the second lesson for us as parents is this. Our children should have a full confidence and trust in us. And again, I repeat what we had this afternoon when talking about love between husband and wife. Love and also confidence and trust. Cannot be required. We cannot tell our children, you have to trust us. You have to have confidence in us. We can't require confidence. Confidence is a value that has to be acquired again. How can we acquire? How can we obtain the confidence of our children? We can do that, for example, if we are calculable for our children. If we are predictable. If our reactions are comprehensive for them. Not that in the same occasion, one time we act like this or react like this. And the other time we react totally different. We can acquire the confidence, the trust of our children by transparency, harmony between our words and our actions. If we as parents live in a selfish and egoistic way, we will not acquire the confidence and the trust of our children. So our behavior, and for sure we are not perfect. Nobody is perfect. But our general attitude is under the observation of our children. And either it helps that they have confidence in us, or they don't trust us. They don't believe us. So we would like to learn from the perfect example, God our Father, that we try to win, to acquire the confidence of our children. You see, a little baby has full trust and confidence in his mother or her mother. If you tell a boy of the age of two years to jump down in the arms of his father, he will jump. He has no doubt that his father is there to get him, to accept him, to receive him. But when the boy is five years old or seven years old, he might ask, Dad, are you really there to help me when I fall down? So, trust and confidence. There is a third point. It is true, God is our loving Father. We have confidence. We have access. We call upon Him as Father. We invoke Him as Father. But at the same time, we respect Him. Peter says, Ye invoke Him as Father, who... I want to read the verse, 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 17. And if ye invoke as Father him who, without regard of persons, judges according to the work of each, pass your time of sojourn in fear. So, we at the same time respect God. He is God who judges without saying the position of the person. We honor God. Everything that we do should be done for the glory of God. We honor Him. And we also obey Him. God must be obeyed. This is what the Apostle said in the beginning of Acts. God must be obeyed. God must be respected. God must be honored. God must be obeyed. And this is also a challenge for us, dear friends, dear parents. Our children have to respect us as their parents. They have to honor us. And they have to obey us. And it is our duty to make this as easy as possible for our children. We can make it very hard for our children to obey or to honor or to respect us. Or we can make it easy for them to do so. So, to honor, to respect, to obey is a challenge for us as parents. But it is also a challenge for our dear children. There are children here tonight. I'm very happy to see you. I'm always happy to see children in the meetings. Dear children, God tells you to honor, to respect, and to obey your parents. It is not me to tell you. It is not your parents to tell you. It is the Bible that tells you children obey your parents. Children honor your parents. So, you should really do this. You should respect their position as parents. Sometimes you get the impression that parents are no longer the parents of the children but that they are the colleagues of their children. They are great chums. No, they are not. Of course, a friendly atmosphere is desirable. The Lord Jesus calls us his friends. We don't call him our friend, but he calls us friends. So, a friendly atmosphere is for sure something we should desire. But let us not think that we are the colleagues of our parents. We are not. Your parents, dear children, are your parents and you should respect them. So, the challenge is for us to create at the same time an atmosphere of love and of respect. This is what we learned from 1 Peter 1, verse 17. Create an atmosphere of love and of respect at the same time. We will consider the example of Abraham tomorrow. Abraham succeeded in doing exactly that. He had a relationship to his son Isaac that was marked by love and by respect in the very same time. A fourth point that is to be thought about when we think of our relationship to our Heavenly Father. He is bringing us up. Education. Education is one of the main tasks. And it is a very difficult task that God has given to us. And we now turn to Ephesians, chapter 6. Just to underline what we just had before us. Verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just. Honor thy father and thy mother. Now verse 4. And ye fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. If we had more time, we would look into Hebrews, chapter 12. You can read that at home. Hebrews, chapter 12, tells us how God our Father brings us up. He brings us up on the basis of a relationship because we are his sons. He has a motive to bring us up. That is love. He has a clear target in bringing us up. It's for our profit. And so, should we bring up and educate our children? There are two cornerstones, two basics of Christian education. They are mentioned in verse 4, Ephesians 6. This is discipline and admonition of the Lord. What does it mean? Discipline means to detect or to note what is wrong and to stop it. That is discipline. Discipline, I repeat, is to detect or to note what is wrong and to stop it. Admonition, on the contrary, is to show the good way. And these two things always work together. Discipline is, to a certain extent, negative. We have to stop something. Admonition is positive. We have to tell them what to do. Poor children, when the mother always says what the children should not do and who never says what they should do, always stopping what is going wrong will be a frustration for our children. Yes, we have to stop what is wrong. We have to detect it and to stop it. But at the same time, we have to tell them what to do. But on the other hand, poor children who only know what to do and who are never stopped when they are doing something wrong. So these two things, these two cornerstones, they always work together, discipline and admonition. Bring up your children. I would like to put the emphasis a little bit in different ways. Bring up your children, not the children of other parents. It is much easier to raise up other children than our own children. To tell to other people what they should do with their children is much easier than to do it with our own children. Of course, we can help other couples when we see something goes wrong. But the responsibility is bring up your children. Secondly, it says bring up your children. It does not say bring up your husband or bring up your wife. Marriage is not an educational establishment. Don't try it. You will fail. Bring up your children, not your husband or your wife. Bring up your children. Thirdly, although here it is said to the fathers, it is a common responsibility of father and mother. There is a wonderful example in the Old Testament that is repeated in the New Testament. That is the example of the parents of Moses. The narration is, we do have it three times in Scripture. Exodus chapter 2, we have it in Acts I think chapter 7, and we have it in Hebrews chapter 11. If you read the text in Exodus, you will realize the responsibility of the mother. If you read the text in Acts chapter 7, you will realize the responsibility of the father. He is mentioned. If you read the text in Hebrews 11, you will all of a sudden read of the parents of Moses. So the mother had her responsibility, the father had his responsibility, and they did it together, the parents of Moses. It is important that our children have parents, not only a mother, not only a father, but parents. It is very risky when the mother says yes, and the kid goes to the father and he says no, or the other way around. So we should really speak with a common voice, particularly when the children are young and not grown up. Education should be appropriate with regard to the age of our children and with regard to the character of our children. If you have children in different age, you can't educate them in the same way. A kid of the age of 5 needs another education than a child that is 10 years old. And also take into consideration the character of your children. One character is different from the other one, even if the parents are the same. So take care to the character of your children. And start early enough to educate your children. I like a verse from the Proverbs. I would like to read it. And I like particularly the Derby version. Proverbs 22, verse 6. Train up the child according to the tenor of his way. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. There is a note that says, train up the child at the entry of his way. The starting point is important. We cannot start early enough to bring up, to educate our children. There is a fifth point when we consider God as our Heavenly Father. He is teaching us. I want to read from Titus chapter 2. Verse 11. For the grace of God, which carries with it salvation for all man, has appeared, teaching us that, and so on. Of course, again, the context is a different one, but we clearly see that God is teaching us. The grace is teaching us. And for sure, one of our main responsibilities as parents is to teach our children. They need the teaching of their parents, a positive teaching to show them the right way, admonishing them, show them the right way. How do we do that? By opening the Bible, by explaining the Bible, the truth of the Bible to our children, again, according to their age. When they are young, we can read the stories of the Old Testament. We can open the Gospels. We can show them this is the most important thing. We can show them the Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many things in the Bible, in the Gospels, but also in other portions of the Bible, that we can read and study with our children, what they can understand. When you have a child of 3, 4, 5 years old, 6, 7, 8, you wouldn't read maybe the prophet Jeremiah, or you wouldn't read Ephesians chapter 3 with them. Start with something else. Read something that they can understand. Teach the children. It is ever so important to make the Lord Jesus Christ precious to our children. And we cannot start with this early enough. And again, I do not only address the parents. I address us in general. Do we have it on our hearts to make the Lord Jesus Christ precious for the young generation, for the children growing up in our local assemblies? That is ever so important. But of course, teaching our children involves also that we have very open discussions with our children on daily topics and subjects, on things which are important for our children. There are so many dangers in the world around us. Children who go to school, young people who go to university, they learn a lot of things which are absolutely contrary to what we find in our Bibles, contrary to the good teaching, the sound doctrine. So please, dear parents, take up the responsibility to discuss with your children about all the dangers that are around in this world, in the religious world, in the political world, in the moral world. The standard of values in this world are totally different from the standards which are set up in the Bible. And we have to talk about that with our children. Let us not forget it. It's ever so important. Sexual education of our children, that is our responsibility and our task. I know it is not easy. With the own children, it's much more difficult than with others. At least this is my experience. But nevertheless, it is our responsibility, also as brothers and sisters in the local assemblies, to talk with the children, with the young people, about the things of sexuality. Sexual education, according to the age of the children, for sure, has to be on our agenda. Don't forget them. If we don't do it, be sure others will do it. If we don't do it, others do it. And what others tell them, teachers, Internet, whatever, is most probably totally against the doctrine of the Word of God. We have to talk to our children about the dangers of media, of the electronic media. They grow up with the Internet. And we all work with it, I guess. We have to work with it. But there are real dangers. How do we handle the Internet? It costs a lot of time. But there are also other risks, great risks. Talk with your children about the dangers and the risks and help them. Dangers of drugs, alcohol, bad friends, bad influences from the world around us, all that should be discussed with our children. Practical holiness. These are all current topics, things our children have to do with. And if we as parents have no idea about these things, we should try to get the necessary information or to ask maybe others to help us and to help our children. But it is really our duty to teach our children. There is a sixth point, very briefly, although it is very important. When we think of our Heavenly Father, it is a blessing that we can have fellowship with Him. 1 John 1. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son. We have fellowship with God, our Father. We have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we should as parents, this is the lesson for us, lesson number six, we should have fellowship with our children. What does it mean to have fellowship, to have common interests, to have a common way? Do we have common interests with our children? Are the interests of our children our own interests? It is important to share information with our children, to share interest, to share activities, to do something together with our children. Fathers, why don't you play football with your boys? That's okay. Why don't you go to a swimming pool with your children when they like swimming or do something else? Common activities according again to the age and the character of the children. And, of course, fellowship is expressed when we talk with them. A seventh and a last point. Our Heavenly Father has prepared a place for us. The Lord Jesus Christ gives us this precious information about the house of His Father. One day we will be there. How can we apply this to us as parents? The application for me is this. In our hearts, our children should always have a place. The day will come when they leave our houses. We did the same, didn't we? One day they will leave the house where they have grown up. But still, and we let them go. But still, also our married children, also our grandchildren can include them. They should always have a place in our hearts. We should pray for them and we should love them. They are one day responsible for themselves. That's true. But they can always have this place in our hearts. We can always be with them in our prayers, wherever they are. We can pray for them. We can love them. So just to repeat very briefly, we have this wonderful example of our Heavenly Father. He loves us. We have confidence in Him. We respect Him. He is bringing us up. He is teaching us. We have fellowship with Him. And He has prepared a place for us. We should follow this perfect example, very well knowing that we are not perfect at all. Do we have a guarantee that our children will follow the Lord Jesus Christ? We do not have a guarantee. Why not? Because every individual is responsible to respond to the call of God. We have had this perfect example before us tonight. And I would like to read just at the end one verse in the prophet of Isaiah, chapter 1. Verse 2. Can you imagine this? A perfect education. I have nourished and brought up children. Without any mistake. Because God doesn't make a mistake. But nevertheless, they have rebelled against me. If our children accept Jesus as their Savior, if they follow Him as Lord, it is always grace. It is nothing but grace. If they don't do, if they don't follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we should be very careful. Particularly when it refers to children of other parents. Never say the parents made the mistakes. It does not become us to say that it was their mistake. They have their own responsibility, the parents and the children. But here you see, God brought up children in a perfect way, and yet they have rebelled against me. Maybe there are parents here tonight, I don't know you, but maybe there are parents here who have children who have gone their own ways. This verse might be a comfort for you. I have brought children up, and they have rebelled against me. Let us pray. Let us earnestly pray that our children will react in a different way. That our unperfect education will nevertheless be a help for the children that they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord. It is all His grace. Children given by grace. To see what fruit this children bear. Fruit that may suit their glowing eyes. Praise evermore with joy our state, For this communion with this Lord, My check of good, O separate Our hearts from what we give them. O wondrous love that gave for us The objects of His tender care, They chasten still, but still resist To hold and guard them where they are. Yet never rest but peace and still With drunken song His tender love He'll give till free from every ill They find they rest with Him at last. Amen. …