The Family and Its Reflection in the Church | Sermon 06/09/2024

All right, I'm glad to see everybody. This was a sermon I was going to preach actually last

Sunday, but my family got very sick, and I find it to be very timely that Pastor Wade gave that sermon on suffering last

Sunday. I know it blessed me so much, guys, and I'm sure that you felt the same.

The reason why we wanna go through a sermon that we're going to go through today and a few different topics, really, that we've been touching before we get into our next sermon series is because we believe

God has spoken clearly on certain matters, right? And we wanna be faithful to God and honor

Him in those doings. One such matter that we believe God has spoken very clearly on is actually a family -integrated church.

I would say in some sense, in the Old Testament, this was part of a mystery.

Part of a mystery. There was a shadow in the Old Covenant that has been fulfilled today in the

New Testament church. And that's the inclusion of family in worship as children as well, okay?

Not speaking as like a Presbyterian way, but more as a grace and mercy that God has had and bestowed upon us to be able to preach through the 66 books of the

Bible as Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the things that were spoken of from the

Old Testament. And it's a mystery to unite, a mystery that's been revealed that will unite all things to Him in the end, meaning that God has created a church and He thinks it ought to function in such a way.

And if the Bible speaks clearly on it, we ought to function as the way God describes, right?

God is the head of the church and we are the body. He is the firstborn from the dead and also in that, we will one day have a bodily resurrection.

Every single Sunday, which is a beautiful thing to behold, we worship the fulfillment of the

Old Testament text through the Jesus Christ, the Messiah who took on flesh.

It's absolutely phenomenal and amazing, guys. And it's something we really gotta grasp and understand because we battle with a lot of affluence today, a lot of wealth, a lot of things that wanna steal our attention, a lot of things that wanna steal our love and affection.

And one way to combat that is in church as a family unit.

We're going to be getting into it, right? Just like as the Israelites, when they were going into the promised land, they were told over and over again, train your children up in the fear and admonition of the

Lord so they do not forget what God has done and they turn after other gods to worship them.

So in the context of our society today, we've been blessed with so many technological advances and advancements.

It has revolutionized the time it takes to bring messages from one area of the globe to another, from used to be mail carrier, people running with letters, to horseback, to train, to the phone, now to the plane.

And now we can have face -to -face interactions through handheld devices that allow us to vicariously space -slash -time travel to instantly connect with anyone across the globe in the matter of milliseconds.

It's absolutely phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. We have, by God's grace, went from travel on horseback to being able to be rocket -propelled into space in order to study the heavens within the last 100 years, guys, it's crazy.

We also now have the ability for people to travel from one continent to the other by flying in an explosion -powered tin can in the sky at the altitude between 32 ,000, 36 ,000 feet with speeds up to 1 ,300 miles per hour, that's the

Concorde jet, absolutely amazing. We've also have had technological breakthroughs in the form of language and communication where we can translate any given language by speaking to our phone in a matter of seconds.

We use it constantly, all the time at the mill when we're there and we're speaking with Spanish -speaking people. Doesn't work the best, there's bugs to be worked out, but still, it's phenomenal.

If you think about the Tower of Babel and the confusion of the language that God placed on the people for not listening to him, what do we see after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

He's reversing that. I can literally speak to my phone and have it be translated in a different language. Beautiful.

I even, right now, have the ability, if I wanted to, to scan a massive amount of information stored on a database collected from individuals all around the world in which

I can access in a matter of milliseconds with the palm of my hand. The internet, right? Instantly, I even have access to all of the different translations of the word of God and the

Hebrew and Greek. So the age that we live in, guys, it is a goldmine of technology, access, information, and self -sustainability.

There's even medical advancements in nanotechnology that improve medical imaging. It's phenomenal.

It may seem, guys, on the outside, that we have everything we need to be successful in this age without excuse.

If we were to look at humanity from the perspective of an outside third party, it would appear that on the surface, all things are in order.

Our lives are aided by technological advancements. We should be at the peak levels of joy and happiness.

Every person we meet ought to be effectually evangelized into a self -perpetuated happy existence with their own technology, right?

For what else do we need? We literally have everything. But when you look under the surface, you would find that depression rates alone in the

United States have never been higher. From a recent Gallup poll, we find that the percentage of US adults who report have being diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached a 29%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015.

We're also being told that loneliness is an epidemic, that though we have the ability to instantly be connected to one another, our technology isn't giving humanity the answer that it so desires.

There's a study that reported that 40 % of Americans feel that they don't have any meaningful personal connections.

In the United Kingdom, they've even created a ministry of loneliness to try to solve the crisis.

Even nations like China and Japan are trying to figure out ways to combat social isolation and loneliness.

We've even found that after the pandemic in 2020, suicide rates have been climbing. Suicide is the 11th leading cause for death in the

United States. Not only that, more and more young adults and minors are no longer identifying, quote unquote, with the sex that they were born with.

They seek medications that change their body chemistry. Furthermore, gender dysphoria has risen in every single state in America, every state except South Dakota, by at least 6%.

I don't even know how many people live in South Dakota, but they're doing a little bit better, right? Maybe they have faithful preaching of the word in a strong family unit.

Here's the catch. Over the last two decades, statistics show that 40 million people who once stated that they were

Christian, who had mere spoken professions of faith, who attended the church no longer attend church or identify as Christians, 40 million, 40 million.

Please understand this, that the rise of gender confusion in our nation, the ever -growing neo -pagan spirituality and the rise of the occult are inherently linked to the decline of the

Christian church in America. Technology and podunk spirituality has become an idol for the secular world.

It's a scapegoat, in a sense, because the church, in many ways, has also made those same things an idol.

What is the fruit? Loneliness, disconnection, no communication, wooden people, like it says in Jeremiah, thinking wooden things with crafted ideals from the hands of popular culture, meaningless philosophy, never -ending search for prosperity.

Remember, those who worship idols become just like them. Eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear, hands that work in vain, families that do not communicate, churches that do not impact the world through the word of God.

Listen clearly, I'll reiterate from Jeremiah 10, one through 11. But the Lord is the true

God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth quakes and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Thus shall you say to them, the gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

You cannot live in a world with such affluence and technological advancements that we have and not worship them unless you know who

God is. Unless you know who God is. You have heard it said many, many times before that the culture is downstream from the church.

It's true. Jesus Christ is the everlasting King. He disarmed all rulers and authorities.

Psalm 2, right? I kiss the sun lest you perish. Please hear me. Our nation cannot endure the wrath of Christ's indignation.

The fruit of our nation, according to Romans chapter one, shows the heart of those who have rejected the true and living

God. And in our affluence, like Israel of old, the Western world at large has forgotten their

King. And this is largely due to the inaction of the family and the church.

It's true. And we've seen this happen before. There's precedence in scripture, right? In Exodus, the Egyptians gave the

Hebrews their gold. Please leave the lands, let your God will stop his wrath. Literally, the

Egyptians gave the Hebrews their gold and said, please leave. The Hebrews crossed through the

Red Sea with the pre -incarnate Christ, leading them through the waters. They witnessed literal miracles in front of their eyes.

The angel of the Lord, right? Also the splitting of the Red Sea. Phenomenal things.

And as Moses was up on Sinai, the people instructed Aaron to do what? To make a golden calf out of their gold that God had given them.

Aaron, right? In this point of time, who bore the rod as the priest of the nation, did not rebuke the peoples and thus judgment came.

That's a reality. In their affluence, they found and worshiped after other gods.

But interesting thought. While Moses was gone on Sinai, the priest did not fulfill his duty as the mouthpiece to the people until the prophet returned.

Look what happened, right? Christ, he's not on earth at this very physical moment, but he's ruling and reigning today, the great high priest and perfect prophet in heaven.

He has shepherds and Christians alike ought to operate as the king instructed them until he returns from the mountain of heaven.

Now, are our priests acting like Aaron or are they acting like Christ in the church?

It's the question. Oh, he's gone for now, but he will come back. Shadows and types, right?

From the old into the new. What we see happen with Israel, we should learn from. First Corinthians 10 tells us that.

Listen to Hebrews three, seven through 11. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways.

As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. This is the fundamental reality for all of those who reject

God. They will never enter into his rest. However, in terms of what we'll be going over today, the people of God, in their affluence, their riches, including the priest who feared the people, rejected

God that brought them from slavery into life. Likewise, they wandered in the desert for 40 years till they were killed off before they entered into the promised land flowing with milk and honey.

What are we going to learn from that situation and how ought we to act?

And then we find in Deuteronomy over and over again, the second giving of the law before the

Hebrews are to enter into the promised land, the urgency of raising your children in the fear and admonition of the

Lord, to not forget the Lord, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that the family was to instruct their child in the ways of the

Lord, to fear the Lord, so that they will continue in the ways of God into their old age.

Because once they enter the promised land, it's flowing with milk and honey. We're going to go over more shadows and types, but there's beautiful shadows and types from the promised land, a section of area in the world given to God's people, to now where God says the meek shall inherit the earth.

We have so much greater today than they had then. So much more temptation than they do. What are we going to learn?

Deuteronomy 6, 12 through 15 states this. Then take care lest you forget the

Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your

God, you shall fear him. Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear.

You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are around you. For the Lord your

God in your midst is a jealous God. Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

So how much is the question, would the discipline of God rest on a church who is failing to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the

Lord? How then would a nation rage and plot in vain when the shepherds of the churches are not bearing the rod against the state in one such way as through the family?

Like it says in Jeremiah, Lord discipline me with your justice, not with your wrath.

Our success is predicated on the success of Christ. I believe we are being disciplined as a church, as a people who will inherit the earth.

But when we state that the culture is downstream from the church, this is what is meant. When the church functions as it ought, those parameters in which it functions are from scripture.

To do what? Bring the word of God to the people of God in the form of the teaching and preaching. To also disciple and encourage the family through God's written word.

And then it lists the signs of grace through baptism, communion, the sacraments, the function of the church.

And to speak to the state. Through these things, the church bears the rod to the state.

However, the church cannot bear the rod when it has rejected the roles given to the church outlined in scripture.

And for this reason, culture suffers, for the church no longer exists within the parameters of scripture.

When the church functions the way it ought, when it's speaking to the state, it calls the state to repentance and tells the state, look, you're going over your bounds of authority, this is how you ought to function.

But if we're not doing that, the state will never be whipped in line. And if we're not training our children, they're going to be trained in the ways of the state.

So the question we could ask ourselves during this sermon is how did we get here? But here's the answer, and I think

Jesus would say this. He'd say, have you not read? Have you not read? There is nothing new under the sun.

These things have happened before. And this is the importance of a family -integrated church, for the parameters of scripture outline a function and a role of the church which is much more overarching than just having your children included in the worship service.

It's about rearing a family in the fear and admonition of the Lord, which is then reflected into the worship service and ought to be encouraged by the church in order to make disciples who then affect the nation.

This is the answer to fighting the world, the flesh and the devil, how to not make idols out of our affluence and technology, to not serve the castrated gods that have been disemboweled at the resurrection of Christ, which now brings us to the text that will springboard us into the family and its reflection in the church.

So grab your Bibles and turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy 31, verses 12 through 13.

Here's the word of the living and true God. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the

Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known it may hear and learn to fear the

Lord your God as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.

Thus ending the reading of God's word, let's pray. God, I pray that you help me to speak clearly, help your word and your truth to be shown.

Through your spirit, Lord, bring conviction to myself, to everyone here.

Let us see the beauty of what you have fulfilled, Jesus, in the church, the mystery that you have revealed to unite all things in you, and the church's function in that.

Let us see the glory of your death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus, that without you we can't make sense of our lives, that we need you,

Jesus, and the power of the gospel to bring us dead sinners back to life together in you in order to understand the family, how it is to operate, let us be humble.

Let us put your word before us. Rightly divide the word of truth, please, Lord, get me out of the way, and let your truth ring.

We love you, God, we praise you, in Jesus' name, amen. So the context within Deuteronomy 31, 12 through 13 is

Moses, he's initiating the rule of Joshua to the ones who are going to inherit the promised land.

God said, Moses, you're not going to go into the promised land, you are going to die before you get there. So Joshua is being enlisted as the new leader, essentially.

He speaks in verse nine, if you go back, it says, then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the

Lord into all the elders of Israel. Okay? So the law, in this sense, is not just the abridged version of Leviticus, but what is referenced here is actually the whole of Moses' writings, right?

All of the revelation that has been given to him so far, it's not just the law of God, but all, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and the parts of Deuteronomy here.

This is what was to be read. This was the written word, as God had revealed such far, and it was given to the priests, the sons of Levi, and to the elders of Israel, and it was to be read to all, to all, every seven years on the year of release.

This is the instruction here. The year of release was celebrated every seven years. It was known as the

Sabbath of God, where every seventh day, the people of God rested, while every seven years, we find that the year of release was to give the land release and also allow the poor to reap from the fields of the land.

That's a giant leap of faith, right? In an agricultural society, let the land rest.

Regardless, the heart of the year of release was to focus on faith in God, to trust in God, and renewal of the family unit, so that the people of God would remember the

Lord who delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. We then find that at the

Feast of Booths, during the year of release, all of the people of God were to then what?

Travel to the specific area in order for all people to hear the preaching and proclamation of the word through the books of Moses.

So understand the following about the year of release. The year of release was when the land was put to rest, when the person would also be acquitted from their debts, and then the

Feast of Booths was a celebration given to help your posterity and all who come after you to rejoice before God, so that you do not forget what the

Lord has done and that your children will rejoice as well and learn to fear God. I don't wanna get too caught up in the descriptions here of the year of release and the

Feast of Booths, because I wanna stay on subject, but I wanna present you today with the following.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the year of release and the Feast of Booths, okay? His church, through the proclamation of the word of God on the

Lord's Day worship, points to the one who fulfilled the feasts. It's not just five books, 66, okay?

Not just on a specific day do we all gather together, but every single Lord's Day. So beautiful.

Here's the argument. Jesus Christ himself in John 7. You can go back to Pastor Wade's sermon on it.

This is so awesome. He stands up in the midst of the crowd and urges everyone that he is the fulfillment of the

Feast of Booths. So cool. Like the people of God who were enslaved to the

Egyptians, we all were once enslaved to sin. Like the people of God of old, we have been rescued from slavery purely by God's grace and have been delivered into freedom.

Like the people of God of old, we too have left the desert of sin and into the promised land.

We have multiple promises. We are promised heaven sealed through the Holy Spirit, and then we're commanded to make a garden of the world that we live in today, and we're promised that the meek shall inherit the earth and that Jesus Christ is coming again.

All of this happened too in the person and work of Jesus Christ, right? Remember, Jesus stated, if you believed in the words of Moses, you would have believed in me, for he wrote about me.

So there's a mystery that's in the Old Testament, the mystery of the celebration of the

Feast of Booths, to train your children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, assemble all Israel together at one point of time during the year of release, and speak to them about what

Moses talked about in the five books of the Bible. All of it pointed to Christ.

Every single thing. Absolutely amazing. Jesus said it. If you believe in the words of Moses, you would have believed in me, for he wrote about me.

Hear this clearly. What we do every single Sunday on the Lord's day is worship Jesus to proclaim the truth of God, that Jesus Christ is the

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has delivered us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom there is redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

So we celebrate, through Jesus Christ, the perfect rest and completed work of Christ through his life, death, burial, and resurrection every single

Lord's day. Not just on the year of release do we let the land rest. On just the year of release do we focus on all of these promises of God.

But every single Lord's day, we go through the Bible and proclaim the Lordship and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy through Jesus Christ, our

King. So understand that we're told from Deuteronomy 31, 12 through 13, right?

Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the

Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known it may hear and learn to fear the

Lord your God. As long as you live in the land, you are going over the Jordan to possess. Yes, assemble, learn all the words from the law.

Who assembles? Just the mother and the father? No, little ones as well as the sojourner.

Don't get confused though. The church service that we have today is not for unbelievers, but they are welcome to hear the preaching and proclamation of the word, right?

And ought we as the church, as we bear the rod to the state, bring this word to the nation so that they would obey?

But hear from who? Here's the question. Moses stated by you in Deuteronomy.

So it was to be Joshua who would do this. But historically when this occurred, the books of Moses were read by Joshua, Solomon, they believe, because he called himself the preacher.

He would preach from this on the year of release from the first five books of the Bible. Josiah is mentioned as doing this in 2

Chronicles 34 .30. Ezra as well from Nehemiah 8 .3. But why?

Why? Here's the words from Matthew Henry here. This is really good. Why did they do this?

This is what Matthew Henry says. He says that the present generation might hereby keep up their acquaintance with the law of God.

They must hear that they may learn and fear God and observe to do their duty. See here what we are to aim at in hearing the word.

We must hear that we may learn and grow in knowledge. And every time we read the scriptures, we shall find that there is still more and more to be learned out of them.

We must learn that we may fear God. That is, that we may be duly affected with divine things and must fear

God that we may observe and do the words of his law. For in vain do we pretend to fear him if we do not obey him.

And also that the rising generation might be times be leavened with religion. Not only that those who know something may thus know more, but that the children who have not known anything may be times know this, how much it is in their interest as well as their duty to fear

God. Because the reality is, is when Jesus Christ is king of kings and Lord of lords, he inherits not just Israel, right?

He is king of the world. And the Bible over and over and over again tells us that if we do not listen to his words and obey the king of kings, he will punish those who do wicked.

And as the church, right? As we are to love our neighbors, we want to teach them how not to reap the judgment of God.

It says he crushes the nations who do not obey him in the present in Psalm chapter two.

He's king. If we loved our neighbors, we would be raising our children in the fear and admonition of the

Lord. It's true. So thinking of the Lord's day today, what do we do? We hear the preaching of the word.

We have qualified elders to the body of the visible church, which consists of men, women, fathers, mothers, children, and even unbelievers, right?

So think about that for a second. So in a fulfillment sense, when they would all gather together, someone specifically qualified would read all of it.

So it is today. Someone who has been given the Holy Spirit as all believers do, but qualified meets the qualifications first Timothy, second

Timothy. And then what? Men, women, little children, sojourners, all here.

But not just one specific day do we all assemble. The fulfillment in Christ is that we do it every single Lord's day to proclaim the truth to all that hear, that you may fear the

Lord your God and have faith in Jesus Christ. And what is being taught, right?

Not just the books of Moses, but the full counsel of God through the Holy Spirit on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

It's quite beautiful. Remember, within Deuteronomy, we find again that the second generation of God's people were to enter into the promised land.

They were told to do certain things in order to not forget it was God who brought them into that land.

That it is flowing with milk and honey, that the people of God have the propensity to become fat with prosperity and affluence, which leads them to worshiping other gods.

So the point I'm making is that we have so much greater than the ones who were going into the promised land.

It's true, we really do. The meek shall inherit the earth. The promised land was just a shadow of the world that God is renewing through the power of the gospel.

As Christians, God is making all things new. As we speak of the kingdom of heaven, it is currently invading the world in not just the land of Canaan, right?

God's people are a promise to the whole world today. All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Christ.

Therefore, from Jesus to now, we see the most amazing technological advancements made throughout human history.

Hope you know that's all because of Jesus. And one day, it'll be taken from those who made it and given to the ones who inherit the earth, just like how the

Egyptians gave the Hebrews their gold. But here's the catch. With affluence and advancement technology, the way to combat that is through remembering who

God is and what he has done, through fathers raising their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and through the institution of the church acting as it ought in a world that seeks to slow the success of the gospel.

So just as the people were to enter into the promised land, they were charged to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the

Lord. We too, as those who inherit the earth, must proclaim to our family the truth of God, of the faithful one, so that they do not run after other gods because the world belongs to Christ, and the world will suffer due to the inaction of the

Christian church, it's just reality. But how is that done, right? It's done through the family, and it's reflected into the church.

That's why we're talking about family integration today, right? As parents with children, we ought to want to raise them in such a way to where they know the words of God, because when struggles come into their lives and they don't have a way to actually challenge it with truth, they might just trust their feelings over then what

God says, and that's not a good thing. But the point

I'm trying to make is that we're a family integrated church, but the heart behind the family integrated church is integration in the family unit, that fathers lead their families in the fear and admonition of the

Lord, right? Mothers help with that duty, because the world seeks to separate the family at all costs, it's the truth.

We must believe that Christ, when he instituted his church, thought it were to operate in such a way that we find longevity, success, and fruitfulness within our own family, and then into the world around us.

So now let's get into it. How was the church to function? How do we know that a church ought to be family integrated?

Well, first, let's go to Matthew 28, 18 through 20. Matthew 28, 18 through 20 states, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of the nations, right? We're being told to do something. Make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, which we'll be seeing that later today, praise God, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

How? Teaching them how. There's a function. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

And then Matthew 16, 18, 12 chapters prior, we say that, we hear this. It says, and I tell you, you are

Peter, and on this rock, which is not Peter, but on the gospel, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Here's where some of the confusion comes, right? We must understand that the New Testament people of God are the church, right?

The church is comprised of people. Yet these people assemble together in the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 31, as we spoke about earlier, in order to worship the

Lord of lords and kings of kings, the king of kings. How do we know that, right? Well, we're told in Acts. Elders were appointed in various cities, and these elders, we are told in 1

Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, are given a duty from God to shepherd the flock of God, be in prayer, and preach the word, meaning that the people of God, the church, through the great commission, is commanded to be part of something more than just themselves.

It's not just you, your Bible, and a tree. You're commanded to be unified as believers. United to the body of Christ, and united to each other in local vicinities, to exercise your gifts with one another, to build up the body of Christ until he returns.

And this mercy, this grace, is the functionality of the local church, led with multiple elders and deacons who are ministers of mercy for the people who are comprised of families to grow in the knowledge and grace of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So I want you to hear this, guys. This is such an amazing fulfillment in the

New Testament era. From the nation Israel, locality, to spiritual

Israel in the New Testament church. And this was once a mystery that has now been made known in Christ.

It's phenomenal. It's not just us alienated from a certain people of God, but we have been included into the commonwealth of Israel through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and promised the very same blessings.

And I want to get into that mystery. It's such a cool thing. Paul consistently speaks about the mystery of Christ in his epistles.

If you've read any of Paul's epistles, you will find the mystery of Christ there. Romans 16 .25

talks about it, Colossians 1 .25 -27, Colossians 2 .2, and Colossians 4 .3.

But I want to take you somewhere in your Bibles real quick. Turn to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one, and I'll start in verse eight.

Paul is starting to build an argument and is one founded purely in the revelation of God of this mystery and what it is, okay?

Paul, in Ephesians one, verse eight, he states, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Earlier in Ephesians, Paul speaks about the will of the Father to set aside a people for adoption to himself through the blood of Christ, right?

That these people were chosen before the foundation of the world, predestined in love to adoption. That in part is the mystery of Christ, but it does not stop here, okay?

Understand, what does it say? In verse, let's see, nine here, making known to us the mystery of his will according to what?

His purpose? God has a will, okay? And he has given us insight into his plan through his word and this revelation of Paul, right?

We're told in verse 10 here, there's a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

So now, let's examine, well, what is that exactly? What is Paul getting at here in Ephesians? Let's examine the next section.

Turn to Ephesians three, one through six. This is so beautiful.

Ephesians three, one through six. For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you

Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the

Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

So in prior generations, there was something that was not known. But in the fulfillment of Jesus Christ in his church, we find that Gentiles are now included into the family of God.

And Ephesians chapter one details every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places has been given to the

Gentiles when they have faith in Christ and believe. And the Holy Spirit has been given to them as a seal, a pledge that they will get their inheritance in heaven.

They won't lose it because they're given the Holy Spirit to save them. It's beautiful.

All who descended from Adam, right, which was previously hidden from the generations, we now have people, again, from every tribe, tongue, and nation, they're fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Why? Because Christ is building his church. He's building his church. Ephesians chapter two, verses 12 through 13 state this.

It's so beautiful. Remember that you were at the time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And forward to verse 18 here in Ephesians two, it says, for through him, we both have access in one spirit to the

Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the

Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.

What does Jesus say? He says, one day you will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not on this mountain or on that mountain, right?

But we have all, even Gentiles, included to the commonwealth of Israel when they have faith in Jesus Christ and repent of their sin, can worship

God in spirit, indwelt by the Holy Spirit in local vicinities and local churches.

It's phenomenal. It's a massive fulfillment of Deuteronomy 31. Not just one specific location and area, but all around the world can we praise

God. It's phenomenal. Please understand that the people of Ephesus were once pagans.

These are Gentile believers, and we're being told that God had a mystery throughout the generations to unite these people in him through the blood of Christ.

Part of this mystery was the shadow that took place in the Old Testament, right? The people of God and how they covenantally interacted with the true and living

God. And this is truly glorious. Please listen, please listen. Here's some shadows, right?

Some mysteries that have now been revealed. Passover, the blood of the doorpost from the Lamb in Exodus protected the people of God from the death of the firstborn, which did what?

Also pointed to the blood of Christ, which brings all, Gentile included, from death to life through faith.

Mystery revealed. Absolutely beautiful. Here's another one. The sacrificial system in the day of atonement.

Sacrifices for sins made day in and day out, year after year, which never truly atoned for the sins of men.

We're told that in Hebrews, right? But by faith, looking forward to the one who was to come, we find the blood of the true and righteous and spotless

Lamb, who is Jesus Christ, cleanse us from all of our sin. Mystery revealed. Ministers of that generation, taken from birth to initiate the worship of the true and living

God, we're talking about the Levitical priest system, to provide the nation with the sacrificial system, charged to represent the people before God, we now have

Jesus Christ, the great high priest, the one who represents all of his people before the Father, who has been brought back from the dead, who is on his mercy seat, ruling and reigning today.

Mystery revealed. It's beautiful. Check this out then. Christ, as the great high priest, initiated then, what?

Ministers of the new covenant, through the Spirit, to lead the people of God, whether Jew or Gentile.

Not like Moses, but now unveiled in the Spirit. Mystery revealed through the word of God.

Absolutely beautiful. So what I was talking about earlier, when Moses goes up to Sinai, and while he's away, the people disobey

God because he's gone for so long. Well, we're ministers of a new covenant today.

Ought we bear the rod to the people and to the state to say, Jesus Christ is coming back. Let's not do what they did in old.

Let's not do what they did in the days of old. Stay with me, please. But listen to this.

Stay in Ephesians right now, but listen to this from 2 Corinthians 3, two through 18. Paul tells us, he says, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.

And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the

Spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the

Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now, if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the

Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the

Spirit have even more glory? That's the days we live in today. The ministers of the new covenant are through the

Spirit. Does not have more glory. Verse nine, continuing on.

For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to not have glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.

Remember, the mystery, and then the mystery revealed. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

That's what we're talking about today. Verse 12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who had put a veil over his face so that the

Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Referring to the Jews of that time. And we know Paul, whenever he went to a new city, he first went to the synagogues to preach to the

Jews, his heart so burdened for them. Verse 15. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed to the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is Spirit. Do you hear it? So do you hear it?

In Christ, we find that there are many mysteries that have been revealed to us from scripture. And the glory that we have today, because of Jesus Christ, is amazing.

The one of the old age, of the old covenant, pales in comparison to what we find we have today.

God had a plan to unite all things to himself, including the Gentile. We can find the full meaning of things from the past in the

Old Testament through Christ. This is typology, the study of revealing that mystery.

In the sermon I had given prior, I talked about types and anti -types, right? This is

Paul's way of talking about types and anti -types. Types from the Old Testament, fulfillments in the

New Testament. He calls it the mystery revealed. Within the context of what we're speaking about today in Deuteronomy 31, all of Israel assembled to listen to the books of Moses on the year of release.

Now, every Lord's Day, we proclaim the fulfillment of the year of release and the feast of booths in Christ to man, woman, father, mother, child, and sojourner.

Together, every Lord's Day is the special occasion in which the full counsel of the word is to be preached, mystery revealed, mystery revealed.

Now, going back into Ephesians, hopefully you stayed there, and I pray this is all starting to click for you guys.

We find in Ephesians 3, eight through 12, listen to this. Remember, he's talking about the mystery that's being revealed, and he's being humble about it.

Starts off with humility. Verses eight through 12 in Ephesians 3. I am the very least of all the saints.

This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Absolutely phenomenal. When this letter was written, was it written just to one individual?

No, it was written to a body of believers who had elders located in Ephesus. It's written to a church.

Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities.

Where? In the heavenly places. In the heavenly places. So understand, the right action of the church through the knowledge of Christ makes a resounding noise in the heavenly places.

Where we sit today, church, in this sign of grace that points to Christ, it's not just a one and done, hit the check mark for the week,

I'm a good Christian, I went to church this Sunday even though it was a chore, now I can get to heaven situation. That's not what it's about.

No, this is a war through grace. Please understand that the world, the flesh and the devil does not want the church to function in such a way that the rulers in the heavenly places hear it.

One such way, and partly the most crucial way to make a church quiet in the heavenly places is to make the church void of the crying of the babies in the sanctuary.

To separate the youth from their parents, to relinquish our God -given duties to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the

Lord, give it to other people because it's an inconvenience to us. Brothers and sisters, hear me clearly,

God is building his church brick by brick and the blessing from God is to be children of believing parents.

So the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 31 is that the children hear the proclamation of the

Spirit from the 66 books of God all pointing to Christ from qualified ministers of the new covenant.

If you want our church to be heard by the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, beyond the blood of Jesus here, there is no greater noise than that of the children because God uses the weak to confound the wise, even in church.

Our children, by God's grace, if he saves their souls, they are the bricks in which God shapes his holy temple. They are the arrows of the mighty man.

It is more than just children in worship. It is a family at home, nurturing, rearing, training, which is then reflected and supported by the church.

Supported by the church, and believe me, children in worship is the pattern of the New Testament.

It really is. Matthew 21, when Jesus was on the earth. Matthew 21, 12 through 16,

I won't read the whole section, but we have here the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna, save us, save us, to the son of David.

And he says, do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes, have you never read?

Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise. And then in Mark 9, we find this with Jesus.

It states, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all, a servant of all. And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

Just one chapter later in Mark 10, when the disciples were trying to stop the children from coming to worship

Christ, coming to be with Christ, this is what Jesus did. Verse 14 in Mark 10, but when

Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Now that's when

Jesus was on the earth, building up something so much more beautiful within the church. Acts 20, we find that the church did the same thing.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, this is Paul, first day of the week, during the

Lord's day service. What does it say? Verse nine, and a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer.

What happened to him? He fell out the window and he died and he was brought back to life, a young man. He was there listening to the proclamation of the word.

Acts 21, five through six, when Paul's going to make his way into Jerusalem, when he is going to actually be captured and handed over, what does it say?

21, five through six, when our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city.

Children were part of the prayer meeting that sent Paul to Jerusalem. It's phenomenal.

Ephesians chapter six, verses one through four, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.

Again, when this letter was written, it was written to a church to be read aloud in the church, and who is being addressed here?

Children. Children are being addressed, right? The temple may have had different sections for women and children, but again, we're talking about the fulfillment of the church here, included, to hear the proclamation, not of the letter, but of the spirit.

It's quite beautiful. And then in first Peter, we have Peter here, chapter five, verses one through five.

I'll just read verses five here just to hit the point again. Peter, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And you can say, Pastor Andrew, these are all great examples, brother, I hear you, but how can this be a blessing to me and to my infant, right?

How is this a blessing to me or even a toddler, right, if I have to leave the sanctuary when the child is screaming?

I see the example of the younger in scripture, but not of the infant. Let me give you some encouragement here.

From the law of God in Leviticus 19, verses 23 through 25. Listen to this. This is a really cool principle

I think we can gather from scripture. God's word states, when you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.

Three years it shall be forbidden to you. It must not be eaten. And in the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy and offering to the praise of the

Lord. But in the fifth year, you may eat of its fruit to increase its yield for you. I am the Lord your God. Here's a good principle

I think we can gather from this, set forth in scripture. In Leviticus, we are told that when the people of God come into the land and they first plant something, they are not to eat of the fruit for that first four years.

On the fifth year, they can enjoy the fruit from the vine. And trust me, I understand the difficulty of having infants of my own in worship, but hear this principle, please.

Give the little years to the Lord. They are for him. They are for him. This is your ability to offer worship up to God.

Right now, this new tender shoot, this new plant, give it to God. He wants it, though you may never see it.

In this, you're preparing what? The field for harvest. You are tending the fruit of the Lord that he has given you.

Give it good soil and great preparation for the coming years. Interestingly enough as well, within the law of God, it takes time for fruit trees to actually produce the best fruit.

And this law from Leviticus in which I'm gathering this principle, gave God the fruit that was immature, not sweet until the people of God enjoyed the best of it.

How gracious and tender is our God? When it's matured, we can take from the fruit of the vine.

Be patient, right? And now that your child rearing, and even if the infant in worship is here, understand that the infant in worship here, the voices of these babies shakes the heavenly places.

It really does. Because the church is functioning as it ought. It's a terrifying noise to the future.

Why is that? Because the enemy hates it. The enemy hates children. Hear me very clearly.

Throughout human history, what has the enemy sought to devour? Constantly, the child.

Moloch, slaughter the child so that you can have good grain. Pharaoh, slaughter the child, right?

Herod, slaughter the child so the king may not come. The Western world at large, slaughter the child so you can fulfill your passions and your dreams.

But again, the tools of the enemy can even be more crafty than the apparent slaughter of children. In the words of Marx and Engel, in the

Communist Manifesto, it's called the abolition of the family. The abolition of the family. Give them to the state.

Disintegrate worship. Disintegrate worship. You can do your own research if you'd like, but the reality is that the modern church phenomenon with separated children is foreign to the body of Christ within the last 150 years.

It's true. It's straight up foreign. The experiment isn't family -integrated worship.

That's ancient. The experiment is disintegrated worship. It truly is. And what is the fruit of our nation so far?

Failure. Failure. But I wanna give you just a basic history here. So with the rise of atheistic presuppositions and evolutionary thought, we saw a change in education in the modern world.

It's said to separate people into different categories for different levels in order to learn specific things.

Schoolhouses were once led by the church, or people typically ran education even with their family and did their own schooling of their children.

But this changed when these presuppositions changed, when the allegiance of our people went from that of God and his word to the state.

And then children were eventually separated into categories and away from their own parents.

But what's interesting about that, though, within the last 80 years, we took the same presuppositions of take your children away, right, so that they can learn specifically this way or that way.

It's best for them. We took that same atheistic principle, the same evolutionary methods, and applied it to the church and thought it was going to work.

It's the same principles. We found that the American church institution had adopted these same methods, separate the children according to age and away from their families, for this must be best for them.

But really think about it, guys. The majority of America, right, spends most of their time without their children during the week.

Shouldn't one of the places that encourages the family to be together be the church? Just another day without them?

Be it, other churches may have like a 45 -minute service or like an hour service. It's a little bit longer here.

But still, we're talking about the spirit -filled ministry of the preaching of the 66 books of the

Bible and the fulfillment of Jesus Christ here. There's a purpose for it. Don't take the children away.

It's the crafty, crafty way of the enemy. Time has shown that this methodology has failed.

Listen to this statistic. Less than 10 % of professing Christians in America have a biblical worldview. Less than 5%, according to Bernard Research, less than 5 % of teenagers who profess

Christianity are theologically literate enough to be called Christians. So they're begging the question, right, we're not reaching the lost through youth ministries and separating kids in worship.

But that's not just something that's done at the church. It's done first at home. Remember, it's the family and the reflection of the church.

Our duty as parents isn't to say, well, it's just Pastor Wade and Pastor Andrew and people who lead, reach kids once a month.

It's their duty to raise my children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. No, every single day ought to be worshiped to you towards God that your child can see and emulate, right?

I don't want to belabor the point. The heart of the matter here is we need to be integrated as a family and it's reflected into the church.

A church whose body is not with their family will have a church who disintegrates in the body. It's just natural, that's the way it works.

By God's grace, the convictions of this church are to be integrated and our families are such as that as well, right?

We must shake the heavenly places by raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And mind you, mind you, while we aren't, the state is raising our children in the fear and admonition of the state.

In our inaction, there's someone else giving them information. It doesn't stop.

It doesn't stop, it doesn't change. Someone will be indoctrinating them. Is it you with the truth?

Jesus Christ says, I'm the way, the truth and the life, right? He is the light that shines in the darkness. Through him, we pass from death into life.

Or is it the world who acts as Pontius Pilate and says, what is truth? What is truth? When it was right in front of his face, the embodiment of it.

We have the truth. Ought we to raise our children with the truth? So what

I'm stating is that the family integrated church is one whose family is integrated when not at church.

Meaning that the father is taking his biblical duty to raise his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord seriously.

And when in church, the ministers of the new covenant effectively administer the signs of grace through the proclamation of the word and encouraging discipleship for the father and teaching even the children under the preaching of the word.

We ought to be involved with our children. And Dusty, our deacon who will be back later this month, he gave a great lesson with quite a bit of application.

And you can find it with that little QR code on the link at the back of our bulletin. It's called Raising Your Children in the Fear and Admonition of the

Lord. He gives lots of good practical application for you in terms of doing family worship at home, how it can look different for you and for your family.

But let's come full circle here, all right? The world battles our hearts and minds.

There's so much going on with entertainment, social media, technology, you name it. These things battle for our time, our attention and for our worship.

I'm not saying these blessings are a bad thing. However, when we do not have our affections fixated on Christ, these things can easily become the main focus of our hearts and minds.

Such has become the fate of our nation, right? In our affluence, we have gone after other gods and in many ways, we brought these things into the church and they ought not to be there.

And what happens? Our families begin to take the brunt. Personally, my generation is the divorce generation, the one of broken homes and generational faithlessness.

Children have long suffered under the mercy of people who long after affluence and prosperity. And we have even set up our churches not to aid in family development, but mimic those of that of a daycare.

God will not be mocked. As parents, we ought to be building arcs in our home for our children, right?

A safe haven for them from the things of the world, a shelter that is rooted and grounded in Christ. Our attention should be that on God.

I'm not saying don't ever have fun, don't ever watch movies, don't do anything like that. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying though is that what we worship as parents, our children will notice those things and they will worship them as well.

They will worship them as well. And anyone who has children in here, I'm sure you've seen your sin even in your own children.

You're like, oh man, that's me, that's me. They mimic the faith of their parents for now.

Ought we to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord? Shouldn't we take the full counsel of God and what we've known in the past and not repeat it?

Again, wouldn't Jesus say if we're asking the question, how do we fight everything that's going on in our nation today?

Would he not look at you and say, have you not read? Have you not read? This has happened time and time before.

But I wanna tell you guys something that's really encouraging. The success of the world and the success of the gospel is not rooted in your faithfulness, okay?

You're going to fail every single day. Jesus Christ is the perfect prophet, king, right?

And priest. The success of his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven invading earth is predicated on his perfect obedience and his perfect righteousness.

That's the freedom you have in order to worship God in grace even when you fail. I don't think the world's gonna go to hell in a handbasket.

It's not that we lose down here, no. It's that we're disciplined with justice and not with wrath.

But mind you, those who do not know God and the nations who do not obey God, they will suffer the wrath of God.

If we as Christians want to love our neighbor, even the unbeliever, we ought to raise our family in the fear and admonition of the

Lord and preach the truth to them. Preach the truth to them. God's law, what does it do?

It holds back evil. It holds back evil. God will win. It will happen.

How long is it going to take us to learn not to repeat the mistakes of those in the path or in the past?

That's the question. That's the question. So we're wrapping up here. I'm gonna end us in prayer.

And then we're going to get into a baptism. And then we're going to take of the Lord's table. I want you guys to be encouraged, right?

Like we have the beauty of having a family unit in which we can raise those arrows to really affect something in the world, right?

And when we have in our shaping ammunition to go against the world, the flesh, and the devil, don't you want to take time to meticulously craft your ammunition?

Don't you want to know how it feels, what the shape is, how well it glides through the air so that it can hit its target?

That's being family integrated at home. Know your children, be with your children, talk to your children, encourage your children, teach your children to repent when they do wrong, to actually have reconciliation with one another, show them what that looks like between even yourself and your relationship with them.

Raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You can do it. God says we have the ability to do it as in the new covenant that has so much more glory than that of the past.

You are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, my friends. The enemy doesn't want you to think that you can make a difference.

Shake the heavenly places today by choosing to be involved in your own family and then worshiping that God every single

Sunday that we have a savior who fulfills his promises even though we are the great covenant breakers and promise breakers.

It's so amazing, guys. It's so amazing, hallelujah. When we say Hosanna, save us, it's like he did.

He did, right? They called out to him, Hosanna, Hosanna, as he entered into Jerusalem and then one week later they crucified him.

But when we say Hosanna, we believe it. We believe it. We pray that our children will as well.

Let's pray, guys. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your plan that you've had to unite all things in you.

Thank you for the function of the church to be part of that plan to make the manifold wisdom of God known to the world through ministers of a new covenant, through the family unit, through being fruitful and multiplying or even being faithful,

Lord, in our singleness. God, we love you, we praise you. You are the great promise keeper, though we are the great, great promise breakers,

Lord. You have lavished your grace and your mercy on us, God. Let us take what you have given us, the full counsel of your word, this sword here, and raise our kids in such a way that when they handle it, they don't cut themselves open.

Help us, Lord, in our nation, as a church, to proclaim the truth without compromise and to teach our children to do the same with gentleness, reverence, love, and respect for others so that we could truly show the world how to love our neighbor,