Open—D. Mearns
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Turn with me please.
To the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
This is not a comfort zone for me.
Not from a standpoint of standing here.
But because of the subject that I have before me.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
And verse 23.
By face.
Moses.
When he was born.
Was his three months of his parents.
Because they saw he was a proper child.
And they were not afraid of the King's commandment.
Now over to the book of the Acts.
Acts Chapter 7.
Just one verse.
Verse 20.
In which time that time was, as we have in the 18th verse, another king rose which knew Jo, not Joseph.
Verse 19. The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children to the end they might not live. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair and nourished up in his father's house three months.
And now back to the book of Exodus.
Exodus Chapter 2.
Exodus Chapter 2.
We'll read the first verse and then when the main man of the House of Levi and took a wife, a daughter of Levi, and the woman conceived and bear a son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hit him three months.
And when she could not longer hide from him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and laid it in the flag by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit, what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the Riverside. And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child.
And behold, the babe wept, and she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews children.
Then set his sister to Pharaoh's daughter. Shall I go on call to be a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And the Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went, and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it, And the child grew, and she brought him into Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses. And she said.
Because I drew him out of the water.
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Now turn back with me to the book of the Acts.
Acts Chapter 7.
I have before me particularly. Sometime we have a burden, sometime we have some thoughts we'd like to share, and sometimes on an occasion like this, you might share something you've enjoyed, You might share something that you've been thinking about for some time.
It's not that.
This afternoon with me, I have a particular burden.
And it's this.
I would like to direct my comments.
Particularly this afternoon.
For the children, the young children here and the young people.
For the children and for the young people, however, it will not be directed to them.
It will be for them, but not to them.
I particularly have on my heart.
Parents of young children.
In this portion that we have here in the Acts Chapter 7.
We read this verse.
Verse 20.
In which time Moses was born was exceeding fair.
And nourished up in his father's house three months.
There's been many nice things that have been brought before us in connection with Moses being exceeding fair and fair to God.
What I would like to look at and it's.
The subject that I am not at all qualified to take up.
But here we find this is not the order I read these scriptures because I'm gonna look at the book of the Acts here first. We have the thought in connection with our children, the responsibility a of fathers.
B of mothers and C of parents that mothers and fathers together.
What I know the most about and what I've failed the most in.
Is the thought of a father?
And here we have in the book of the Acts, not the thought.
Of a child in the mother's home. Not the thought of a child in the parents home, but the responsibility of a father.
It's vital for us.
To see the responsibility of.
Fathers in our household.
If we're gonna be able to benefit from fathers in the assembly.
We see the apostle Paul as he writes to Timothy, as he writes to Titus. He writes as a father to a son.
You see that character as the apostle writes those epistles.
I so appreciate it in my own life.
Those.
Who have been fathers to me in the Assembly?
I was brought up in the Assembly Of Montreal.
There were fathers there that took me under their wing, that brought the word of God before me in a very special way. I was brought up in a Christian home. I had a father that did that. Naturally I moved from Montreal to the assembly here. At that time it was Burbank. There are many here this afternoon who at that time.
Were fathers to me and in a very special way helped me at a time in my life that was a difficult time.
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I think of me sitting in the sunny school for two years, of Bob Connors and how he very specially brought before our souls the life of Abraham, the life of Bob Isaac, the life of Joseph. I benefited so much from that. As a father, it was presented to me.
I moved from there to where I am now in Rio Ferry.
Whether there are those who've been fathers to me?
Basically that's in the assembly now. Most of them don't take too much part anymore.
They're past the point of oversight that.
Position of oversight has been passed on to those who are my peers but their fathers there.
Who saw me in my knee?
And presented the word of God to me in a very special way.
If we do not.
As fathers in our homes.
Take up the responsibility that God has given to us as natural fathers. It makes it difficult.
To be able to in the assembly in the local sphere.
Be a father to the Saints of God.
And so here in the book of the Acts.
We have.
Moses being raised under the influence, not of his mother, not of his parents, but his father.
Now turn with me to the book of Colossians.
The Book of Colossians.
The third chapter.
Verse 21.
There's a whole list of instruction here for wives, for husbands, for children, for servants.
In keeping with what I have before me, let's look at verse 21.
Fathers.
Provoke not your children to anger.
Lest they be discouraged.
Let's turn to the book of Ephesians.
Book of Ephesians, chapter 6.
The third verse.
And he fathers.
Provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
It's interesting, isn't it?
That we don't have a message to mothers.
Provoke not your children to rest.
What we do to fathers?
Why? Why would there be that differential?
Why an exhortation to fathers?
Not to provoke.
Their children to wrath.
And not to mothers.
Does it happen that umm, a child is umm?
Can be provoked to wrath by a mother.
Well, yeah.
I'm not sitting in front of an audience.
Of those that are in house households that don't understand the real world, we have our homes. I, I can stand here with a, a shirt and a tie and a nice pair of pants and, and have my umm, my conference facade, if you might say that. And umm, I can look very good for a week that I'm spending time amongst you.
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But let's go to our homes.
Let's go to our homes when the Saints have not seen us for some time and take a little Snapshot as to what happens there in the home sometimes.
You know, it's interesting that here the exhortation is to fathers.
It's specifically to fathers.
And I believe that.
If this exhortation here.
Is not thought upon.
And is not taken, it has an effect.
On fathers in the Assembly.
If I as a father.
And I'm I'm given of God.
The authority of the home.
And if my child comes to me and we have a discussion.
And we do not disagree on the matter. I can take and I can have the spirit that I'm the dad and I've been given the authority by God.
To be the head of this home and what I say goes and that is correct, however.
If I push that.
Past the line that the Lord would have me. Then what we see is what we have here in those verses, a child being provoked to wrath. You know my children, they sometimes get upset as we all sometimes get upset.
But I can say this.
We don't have the time. I don't want to do this. We could look at it in the word, the times that I have seen.
My children.
Serious.
It's been my fault.
This is an awkward thing. My children are here.
You can visit with them after.
It just does not say here. Provoke not your children to wrath.
In the one instance it says lest they be discouraged.
In the other instance.
It is in connection with providing food for them, bringing them up in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. What is vital, what is absolutely vital is.
That our households.
Get food.
That is vital and that is the responsibility of the father. If we were to go to Exodus and see when the manna was gathered, the heads of the homes went out and they gathered the manna. I'm sure they perhaps had a list of children and they would say, so this child needs so much and this child needs so much and my wife needs so much and so on. It was the responsibility of the heads of the homes to gather the mana.
That is the responsibility of those of us who are heads of our homes, but that also translates to the Assembly.
As fathers in the Assembly, those who are in oversight, we don't have the time to turn to to it, but if we were to turn to Acts 20.
As the apostle gathers the elders together.
Let's do it. Let's see what he brings before.
The elders there in Ephesus.
First and foremost, Acts chapter 20.
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For 17 And from my lead us he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. Now here's what he has to say to them in verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, unto all over all the flock over which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers.
To feed.
The Church of God.
If we were to turn to Peter, he does exactly the same thing as he addresses those in oversight, he says to them.
Feed the flock of God. I don't want to belabor this point with fathers, but old is for myself, my own soul.
If I could see.
The authority that the Lord has given me.
And to realize that although I have that authority, I can be in a position where, as the apostle writes to the Ephesians and writes to the Colossians, I can be a discouragement to my children.
Because I provoke them.
Giraffe.
Let's turn now to the book of Exodus.
Exodus Chapter 2. Each of these portions would be an address in themselves.
So it's just by way of outline.
But here I would like to be. It's hard, you know, sometimes in a conference.
Parents are here with young children and you get halfway through the conference like this and it's pretty old. Tough to try to get something from the meetings to have the little ones there. They're tired of sitting. And yet, oh, if I could just be an encouragement to you, dear mothers, It does not stop with the young mothers. There are mothers here that are older. There are those here who are grandmothers, who yearn over their grandchildren and as mothers.
You know, I'm on shaky ground here because.
I I don't stand in the shoes of a mother and we're not going to have a mother that stands up here.
And mothers are built differently than fathers.
Their emotional makeup is so very, very different and yet what they bring before the children.
Is so vital, and so we have it here in Exodus Chapter 2.
And verse 9 Pharaoh's mother said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.
If you notice the early part of the chapter.
Sometimes we look at the little story books.
And it shows Jacob as she makes this little arc.
She never made an ark. It doesn't say that. It says she took an ark.
She did not make a dark, she took an ark.
She availed herself.
Of the provision that God had made for her boy to be spared. Yes, she pitched it within and without, but she did not make an arch. The provision was already there.
For her boy.
But she availed herself of that ark, and it says she took it. You know, I mentioned something at Saint Louis.
And I shall mention it again here.
If in the summertime.
You were to drive into our driveway.
You would find something happen that is sort of interesting. You'd come in the driveway and there would be a flock of chickens that would just scatter. They would just scatter. And if you were to get out of your car and you would try to get close to one of those hands or one of those Roosters or one of those chicks, you wouldn't have a hope of getting close to them. You wouldn't have a hope of getting close to one of them.
Now, if you were to continue down the driveway.
And you would come to the end. You'd come upon another flock.
Of chickens, Of hens, Roosters, chicks.
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You would get out of the car and they would all gather around your feet.
And they would expect something to eat. And if you had something in your hand and put it down, they would Peck out of your hand. You could pick them up and they would feed right out of your hand. What is the difference between those two flocks of chickens in our yard? It's this.
The first Block have all been raised.
By a mother hen.
Every one of them different hands, but all been raised by a mother hen and they have been trained to know danger.
The second Block.
Is the flock that came from the hatchery as little chicks? And we've raised them and they don't know a thing about danger?
You know, three years ago.
I have two boys. One of them is here.
One of them hates the chickens.
One of them, the chickens, belong to him.
Three years ago.
And uh, uh, if you can picture our property, if if be set in Maple trees, we top trees, it's beset with, with foxes, with, with, with weasels, with fissures, with, with coyotes. Umm, it's just, uh, it's a paradise for them as far as chickens is concerned.
You know, three years ago we had three hands and umm, evidently they got lost.
And picked off by some environments we don't know which.
Couple weeks later, the three hands.
Came out of the woods, each with a little trail of chicks behind them.
Now how these mother hens?
Can find a place.
In the environment, in festive woods.
Sit on those eggs.
Have them hatch.
Protect them from all environments that are around. It's beyond me. And yet perhaps we can understand a little of the Lord Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem. And what does the what does he draw an analogy with? He says, how often would I have gathered the ***?
A hen gathers her chicks.
I'll just make this comment. There are those here who are young mothers.
There are those here who are mothers.
There are those who are grandmothers.
The influence that you have.
On these little ones.
Is something that I would not be able to have a hope of having.
Yes, I have a responsibility in the home as a father.
But as a mother.
And we could take up the thought of a mother throughout the word beautiful, but just suffice to say.
That we have many places.
Where we have that female character portrayed by the Lord Jesus, we have the red heifer, we have the portion that I've I've just suggested time and again, we see that character, that female character that works on those little ones in a way that it's not possible for me to.
Oh, you dear young mothers.
May I encourage you to recognize?
The God-given characteristics that you have.
To pour into those little ones.
That it would have an effect just like that first flock of birds in our driveway, That they would no danger. You know that first flock, most of the hands that raised them.
They they passed on, they're gone.
But what was drilled into them?
It's still there.
I'm so thankful for a mother. One of the last things I did before I came here, I went up to my parents grave. I stood there on it. I thanked the.
The Lord, for a godly mother, thought of all the runny noses. They wiped my parents.
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Dear mothers.
May this be an encouragement to you as you have those little ones that as has been brought before us, perhaps there's those mundane tasks they have today.
It seems so hard that the influence that has poured into those little ones is just beautiful to see.
But now let's go back to the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 23.
By faith, Moses when he was born.
Was hit three months.
Of his parents.
Because they thought he was a proper child.
And they were not afraid of the King's commandment.
The responsibility now of parents.
Together.
This is where most of the breakdown takes place.
Number of years ago.
When I was a young person.
Like that in the Sunday school.
Of someone who is a father to me.
One of the things he brought before us.
Which was a great help to me.
Was the subject of restoration.
As he brought before us the subject of restoration.
He mentioned a few things.
That were of great help.
And they were this.
Confession.
Is an act.
Confession is an act.
Forgiveness.
Is an act.
Repentance.
Is a process.
And restoration.
Is a process.
Often the breakdown.
In our souls work before the Lord.
Is confusing confession with repentance.
So we see if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. However, that is very true. But confession is not repentance.
And forgiveness.
Is not restoration.
And so often in the household.
When there is a difficulty.
In the marriage relationship.
What happens is often there is confession.
And there's forgiveness.
But because.
We don't have an understanding of what repentance is.
Restoration is not complete.
And so you have a situation where something arises in the marriage and.
Let's be frank and honest.
We have difficulties sometimes in our marriages.
As I said, we can have on our conference this facade.
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But it does not take rocket science to figure out.
That amongst the gathered states, there's been breakdown in the marriage relationship.
It's a hard thing.
To view.
An older couple in the assembly.
And to view their reaction with each other.
And to realize, you know.
I'm sure it wasn't like that.
On the wedding day.
I'm sure it was not like that.
I.
That in the difficulties that arise in our personal lives.
In our collective lives.
In our marriage lives.
That were content with a partial restoration.
Why is it that in our relationship with the Lord?
We're often content with a partial restoration.
It's because when we confess, we think that that is repentance.
Confession is not repentance.
It's maybe the start of it, but when there's the full work of repentance, then there can be the full work of restoration.
And I would suggest.
That perhaps the most beautiful picture.
To our brethren.
To our family.
To this world of Christ and the Church.
Is our marriages.
There is nothing more beautiful.
Than seeing an older couple.
We're so much in love with each other. Just a beautiful picture.
Of Christ and the Church. I would like to turn to two verses before I look at one more point.
Let's turn to the book of Ephesians.
Book of Ephesians, chapter 5.
I'm just going to read the last.
Line of the chapter.
Ephesians chapter 5.
And the wife?
See that she reverence her husband.
Dear sister, however old you are, if you're 25.
Or you're 85.
That man that is at your side.
Do you reverence?
Batman, I'm not asking if you love him.
I'm not asking if you care for him.
I'm not asking if you're in subjection to him.
I'm asking.
Do you reference?
Your husband.
Let's turn to Peter.
Pistol Teeter.
First Peter, chapter 3.
First Peter, chapter 3.
And verse 7.
Likewise the husband's.
Dwell with them according to knowledge.
Giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.
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This is the area that I'm the most familiar with being a husband.
And of course, the area that there's been the most breakdown.
In not dwelling with my wife.
According to knowledge, being sensitive.
To the differences.
Between a man and a woman.
You know, often.
Those of us who are parents.
We bring up our children. We don't see that much difference between our sons and our daughters. They are very different.
Our daughters are such tender plants.
That need, uh, which our sons do not need. There's not time to develop that.
But I would make the suggestion in connection with Moses being brought up in his parents home. It was not just Moses, it was Miriam, it was Aaron, it was Moses.
There came a time in my life.
When I asked for my place at the Lord's table.
And I attended my first care meeting.
As I attended that first Chair meeting.
It became very apparent to me.
That there was a situation with my father and with another brother in the assembly and they had a, a discussion there. They're on opposite sides of, umm, uh, when it came to viewpoint and it became very evident to me.
That the situation that presided there between my dad and his other brother had been there for a long, long time.
And I never knew it.
In fact.
There was a time when that brother drew alongside of me and was able to be a help to me as I reflected back if my dad had ever.
Have said something of a negative nature to me about that brother. I would not have listened to him.
And so there comes a time in the lives of our children.
And it's not because they don't trust their parents.
But in connection with the questions that are asked in the Pentateuch, what meaning by this service?
Our children go outside the bounds of the home, and they ask questions, and they ask our brethren.
How wonderful it is if our brethren can draw alongside of us.
And they can be helped to them. How wonderful it is if our children can go to our to our brethren, because there has been nothing of a negative nature set in our homes about our brethren.
I've been so thankful for that first experience of that chair meeting in my own life, and I would just suggest.
For those particularly who are young parents, you don't see it now.
Those of you who are young fathers.
You perhaps not have not seen an older teenager pushed to the point where he's a little bit past being upset.
All that these principles.
Might be part of the fabric.
Of our homes.
That the Lord Jesus.
Might be glorified that he might be honored.
Just these few thoughts.
In connection with.
Moses, Father.
Moses, Mother.
And the parents together, may the Lord bless His word.