"A Father's Rejoicing"

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Proverbs 23:24 Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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treasure that, that we would meditate on that, that we would truly honor you today.
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Even as our thoughts turn to our own earthly fathers and whatever relationship that may have been, we can turn to you in Christ and know that you are our perfect Heavenly Father, powerful and righteous and holy, everlasting.
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We ask that you would help us today to go through this Father's Day, a day that could be filled with joy and sorrow, a day that could be filled with with feelings of of strain or feelings of happiness.
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As we think about our own sinful responses and imperfect reactions to our failing fathers and as our, as fathers, as we think about whether or not we really truly deserve to be honored by our children, all these things can come into mind.
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All these things can cause us to to question the day and wonder how we're supposed to respond and maybe we're just looking forward to a nice day of relaxation, a nice day to kick back and and enjoy what's to come.
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But Lord, we ask for more than these. We ask for more than the common thoughts and activities.
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We ask that you would give us a clear view of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom and by whom we may call you
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Heavenly Father. And I pray that you would grant us great joy today as we consider the truths of this of this proverb that we will look at together.
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Thank you for being our Heavenly Father and providing us these graces for which we ask. We ask in the name for the glory of your
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Son Christ. Amen. Well, it's
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Father's Day. I hope you have a happy Father's Day. I've been saying that to everybody I can get to. But I wonder if you have given much thought about what makes a
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Father's Day happy, right? That may be a different definition for fathers and for children, but sometimes it comes down to what present to buy.
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And if you're anything like me, then you have a real hard time figuring out what that's going to be.
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I was talking to my brother about that this last week and just, you know, my dad is someone who's just really, really hard to find any present, any thing, a token of our honor and affection that even will last and not be put on the shelf somewhere.
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So we hope we've made the right decision this year and it remains to be seen.
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But when you're thinking about a small thing like that about, you know, what kind of present to buy for your father, it's kind of a smaller question of a larger one of a question that children often will ask themselves.
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How can I make my dad happy? Maybe that's something that you reflect on in your relationship with your father about how did
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I make my father most happy? One of the times that I really knew that I pleased him and you can think about that and also fathers will think about their children and think about what is it about my children that make me that makes me rejoice in them to be happy in them to feel like I have a good child, a good daughter, a good son that I rejoice in and like talking about with others.
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And in general parents will get together and sometimes will swap stories about children and most of the time they want to say something nice and something good something something enjoyable.
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I want to try to understand that dynamic a little more on this
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Father's Day to think a little bit more about that and I think Proverbs chapter 23 has a passage that will be helpful to us particularly a sentence a proverb verse 24 out of Proverbs 23.
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So let's look at that together this morning Proverbs 23 beginning in verse 15.
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My son if your heart is wise my own heart also will be glad and my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right
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Do not let your heart envy sinners but live in the fear of the
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Lord always Surely there is a future and your hope will not be cut off Listen, my son and be wise and direct your heart in the way
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Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine or with gluttonous eaters of meat for the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty
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And drowsiness will clothe one with rags Listen to your father who begot you and do not despise your mother when she is old
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Buy truth and do not sell it Get wisdom and instruction and understanding
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The father of the righteous Will greatly rejoice And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him
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Let your father and your mother be glad And let her rejoice who gave birth to you
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Give me your heart my son and let your eyes delight in my ways
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For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well
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Surely she lurks as a robber and increases the faithless among men
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You can hear the father's heart as he admonishes his son So he speaks to him about what is most vital what is most important, but I want us to look particularly at verse 24
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This morning, there's there's an image here. It's it's a happy image The image of a of a father and how he feels about his son if his son
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Is righteous if his son is wise How much will this father greatly rejoice how much will this father's heart truly be glad And I think as we think about that image as we consider this this ideal relationship between father and child
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That it will help us to reflect further On why that matters such a great deal to our lives
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And I believe that if we're going to honor our Heavenly father if we're going to honor our heavenly father
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Then we will honor our earthly father to honor our earthly fathers. We ought to live in the joy of our heavenly fathers
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So we consider their memories as we consider how to interact With them today as we as we consider what it means to be a father.
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I think it all depends On living in the joy of our heavenly father so let's begin in verse 24 of proverbs 23 and think about this ideal father son relationship we have a father rejoicing
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In an admirable son an admirable son and you can see how admirable he is the father of the righteous
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Will greatly rejoice And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him
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So what we have here is classic hebrew poetry and the first statement Corresponds with another statement and the second statement with another statement.
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So the idea is this Greatly rejoice and to be very glad The father rejoices to rejoice actually in the hebrew.
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It's rejoiced twice So it's rejoice bold and underlined to greatly rejoice.
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He rejoices What kind of a father rejoices with such joy the one who has a righteous son
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And he who sires a wise son. Oh, his heart will be glad in him
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So you can hear that the happy father The happy father is the one who has a righteous and wise child and that these two traits of righteousness and wisdom
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Go together That a righteous son is a wise son and a wise son is a righteous son
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Here here is a child who has an impeccable testimony Here is a here is a child who is impressive in their insight in their decision making and oh
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What a child to have for a father one that does what is right in a wise way
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Wow, that's going to make any parent happy. That's going to make any parent Walk around and and want to talk about their son want to talk about their daughter their child who is right
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And their child who is wise We're given a poetic ideal
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The happy father and the good child Let's think more about it because this ideal is not restricted.
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Of course to this one verse It's something we find in the context that I just read for you and in all of proverbs
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In all of proverbs over 80 times. We have the term either father or or son
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And we have a series of of encounters or instructions That craft for us what it's supposed to look like this father child relationship obviously when the child is foolish and and does
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Iniquity then the father is shamed and the father is has a broken heart But when the child does what is right when the child does what is wise then the father
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Rejoices and the mother along with him and we hear that in so many different ways throughout the book of proverbs but Even in the particular context you can hear
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In verses 15 and 16 very much the same idea that you hear in verse 24 so in verse 15 and 16 you hear this my son if your heart is wise
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My own heart also will be glad and my own my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak.
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What is right? So you hear wisdom and righteousness as well in verses 15 and 16
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And you hear that the father's heart is glad that that his inmost being rejoices We can also
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Hear that the father knows that his child his son needs direction in these ways
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His son needs to be wise. He needs to grow in wisdom His son needs to say what is right and develop in righteousness.
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And so The father again and again calls for his child's attention
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He says listen to me He says he says direct your heart in my way
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Listen to your father who begot you give me your heart. Let your eyes delight in my ways
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How often does a parent? Say to their child pay attention listen
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Watch look where look where i'm pointing Over and over the child's attention must be grasped because the parent wants the child to learn wisdom and to learn
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Righteousness and so you can see this father has a heart for his child he this passage so shows us that no father wants a drunk or a glutton or a bum or a sexual degenerate for a son
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So he compels him out of love to to turn to pursue truth wisdom instruction and understanding
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And we can hear the motivation the motivation is there in verse 24 My son if you'll be wise if you will work righteousness
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I will rejoice And that's a great motivation for a child The child wants to know that his or her father
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Looks upon them with favor and approval and acceptance and Likes to say wonderful things about them when they're not around Every child wants that they they want their father
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They want their father to favor them and to and to And to rejoice in them
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And that's what the father's saying to his son think about if you live this way how happy this will make
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Make me and and make your mother as well And when the mother's at peace about the child that really helps the father to be at peace as well
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But as we think about the ideal that we have here a son that listens to truth and follows wisdom a father who constantly
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And in a very dedicated way instructs the child and all the ways that the child is to go
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As we think about the ideal father -son relationship Displayed for us here.
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How are we supposed to relate to that? How are we supposed to apply that? Of course, we are being given in this wisdom text something of a moral absolute
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That fathers or parents in general ought to instruct their children in righteous ways and in wise ways and those are defined for us
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Unrighteous ways are listed for us foolish ways are listed for us and Righteous ways and and and wise ways are listed for us.
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We're being given a moral absolute of how Parents should instruct their children how children ought to how to how to respond to their parents
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And if all goes well And the parental instruction is perfect and the children respond perfectly.
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We have an ideal Parent child father son relationship, don't we?
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But we know none of us live up to that ideal We know that right? I hope you know that if you don't know that we'll talk about that after church um
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If we all can sense that somehow some way as as parents our instructions have been somewhat defective
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We've not always instructed well and in wisdom and in patience and in in specificity
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And in great wisdom and so we can feel that we have not measured up children as well often feel like they don't measure up to the desires of their parents and And haven't done enough to gain their mother's favor or their father's favor
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We can sense that we don't live up to this ideal So, how do we treat it? How do we use it?
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In some ways, I guess we could just leave it as the ideal it could be like North on the compass
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So you always know where north is and you can and you can gauge standards by which direction is north even though, you know
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You're never ever going to make it to north To magnetic north you're never going there
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But at least you know where it is and so you have some direction It's a moral absolute and I suppose if we keep it there
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We can pat ourselves on the back and say we're doing much better than many people in our generation who simply takes
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The compass of morality and tosses it into the gutter of moral relativism
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And says there are no absolute rights and wrongs. There are no absolute truths falsities
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But we need more than that we should desire More than just a moral absolute as effective and as essential as that is this is not just a
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Poetic ideal or a proverbial ideal. This is a profound ideal and the word profound
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I think gets overused but it has the idea of that which is before and established that which is Pro before found or founded foundation established.
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There's something That lies in the in the deep and distant past Behind This ideal father and son relationship and we should get that some thought this morning
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A father's joy and gladness in righteous and wise children is a universal idea that we find
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Throughout the old testament. There are many stories if you think about it for a little bit There's many stories in the old testament of fathers and their children
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And there are some stories that that are about disaster And there are some stories that are about joy and happiness
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You think about the sorrowful stories stories such as lot and his daughters david and his older sons
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Some of them are examples of joy and gladness think of the son named shem son named isaac
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Think about caleb's bold daughter and think about rekhab's children but this whole father child relationship this whole
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Ideal becomes a central focus in the old testament primarily because of the fall
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When adam and eve sinned death enters into the human race
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No longer is life the primary characteristic of the human of the human race, but death is
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And now there's a very great need to fight against death With life in fact god promised
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The serpent in the hearing of adam and eve in genesis 3 15
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I will put enmity between you and the woman between between your seed and her seed
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He will bruise you on the head And you shall bruise him on the heel Even as bearing children now becomes
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Essential for the survival of the human race because death has entered so also even in a greater way
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There is there is the need for a descendant a seed a son who will defeat the evil that has
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Has raised up against humanity as satan led humanity into death
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So the seed of the woman would crush satan and thus lead humanity back into life
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And humans began to bear children and two lineages appear. There's the the the foolishly wicked shameful line of god haters from the line of cain and then there are the righteous and wise
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Descendants of and they're the god fearers from seth And soon the god fearers were reduced to a single family noah and his sons and then god destroyed all of the god haters in the universal flood the worldwide flood
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And saving noah and his family alone. So the fall teaches That we need to have children to fight against death
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But the flood says You need wise and righteous children because if your children are
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Sinfully sinfully wicked if they are foolish then god will destroy them in judgment.
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So the fall and the flood emphasized to us in a very basic and undeniable unforgettable way that we
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Should value children. We should love children and we should raise them in in god fearing ways in a righteous and wise
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Way, and this is the basis for that ideal relationship So when parents rejoice in the children when a father rejoices in his son
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What you experience is is deeper than simple parental pride
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Which is obviously something that's there But it's more than that. There's this primal ancient joy
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Connected to the hope of the seed the child who would be the perfect answer to the ultimate problem
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And every parental struggle and success in the scripture has to be understood against that background
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The hope of the seed in the face of death is carved into every genealogy that you read in the bible
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In fact, it is the artesian well from which the the the hope of a perfect son springs
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Well, let's think about this Again, it's not just that a father rejoices in an admirable son
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But as we think about it in its full New testament context we should think about how a father rejoices in Anointed an anointed son.
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We think a great deal about Parent child relationships um, there's radio shows dedicated to A parent good parenting.
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There are books everywhere about good parenting on days like mother's day and father's day. We think about Parent and child relationships.
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We give a lot of thought To it. How much thought do we give to the heavenly?
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father son relationship We should give some thought today verse 24 says the father of the righteous will greatly rejoice
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And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him Now the truth of that scriptural ideal is rooted in the author of scripture himself
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God eternally exists It's one essence and three persons
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And in this triune bliss god the father and god the son forever delight in one another through god the holy spirit
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And the heavenly father's relationship to the heavenly son is heavenly
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It's perfect It is the ideal relationship between father and Son all of god's commandments and instructions and examples and encouragements and proverbs about fathers and children in his word
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All of that finds its truthfulness its reality In god the father and god the son
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Proverbs 23 verse 24 is true because god is the father of a righteous son in whom he greatly rejoices
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He has begotten an infinitely wise son and has supreme Gladness in him.
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Let's think about this for a little bit Think about the eternal origins of this ideal father son relationship
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When we hear jesus pray in john chapter 17 in verse 5, he says now father glorify me
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With the glory I had with you before the world was This father son relationship goes back before the beginning of time into all of eternity past It had no
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Beginning the divine father son relationship did not begin with the birth of jesus of nazareth.
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It had no beginning John chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 speaks of the father and son in terms of god and the word
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And the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was
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God he was in the beginning with god We are taught from the scriptures that before the beginning
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God the father and god the son communed perfectly in god the spirit and that the son is
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Eternally begotten of the father he has no beginning yet eternally proceeds from the father as the infinitely echoing second person of the trinity
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And this is not a mystery that is forever hidden from us but Revealed to us in the incarnation for the word became flesh
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And dwelt among us and we beheld his glory glory as of the only begotten from the father
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Full of grace and truth and the glories of of the father -son relationship
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The glory of god is revealed to us in christ And god the father and god the son alone possessed that perfect ideal father -son relationship
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John 1 18 says no one has seen god at any time the only begotten god who was in the bosom of the father
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He has explained him And I think that these passages therefore Lead us to consider the historical expression for what was eternal.
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It's also historical in that jesus Of nazareth is the christ the son of the living god that god the son the second person of the trinity
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Took upon human flesh And in space and time intervened for our behalf
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And we know that he is the beloved son of the father for many reasons
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We can think of his baptism where jesus comes to john the baptist and as john the baptist is baptizing him
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The heaven's part and the holy spirit in the form of a dove alights upon Jesus the christ anointing him before all of israel and god the father speaks and says this is my beloved
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Son in whom I am well pleased. He says the same at the mount of transfiguration something that peter talks about in his letter that that jesus christ was transfigured in glory before his
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Three of his disciples and that again the shekinah glory cloud of god comes upon him
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And we hear the voice again. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased
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He was so pleased in his beloved son that jesus christ And jesus christ alone
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Was the perfect sacrifice for our sins No other sacrifice would do no other lamb could do what jesus christ could do in that he died upon the cross
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An acceptable sacrifice to god him dying taking the penalty for our sins
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But he was perfect and he was righteous And he was fully beloved by the father
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So it was that because the father so loved the son because he was such a righteous and wise son
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That the son died in our place Satisfying all of the righteous requirements of god dying for our sins dying for our folly
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But that doesn't end the story for god Because he delighted in his son because he rejoices in his son.
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He rose him from the dead the third day Showing everyone vindicating his son before everyone that he indeed is the infinitely wise and righteous son who satisfies god's justice upon the cross and he
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Welcomes him to heaven. He ascends to the right hand of the father and sits there in in Reigns forever with a name which is above every name.
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We see the eternal everlasting beauty of this ideal father -son Relationship for god gives to him a dominion glory and a kingdom that will not
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Pass away a kingdom that will never be destroyed We can spend a lot of time thinking about how the ideal father -son relationship
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Really comes forth from the perfect father -son relationship in god the father and in god the son
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But I want us to apply this to our own lives by recognizing this that a father rejoices in An adopted son we can even say the heavenly father rejoices in his adopted sons and daughters
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The ultimate son Pleased the ultimate father and answered the ultimate problem of sin
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What is the result of this? galatians 4 Verse 4 but when the fullness of the time came
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God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law So that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons adoption
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God sent his only begotten fully beloved son To die upon the cross and redeem us that we might become adopted
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Children adopted sons and daughters of this same heavenly father and because we are sons
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God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying abba father
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Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son of a son and an heir through god In christ made right with god.
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I am adopted as one of his many children I'm given fellowship With him through his spirit all because of his son all because of the way that god the father
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Loves god the son I may have fellowship With god the father because of my faith in god the son
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First corinthians Chapter 1 verse 30 tells us Something I think is important for us to pay attention to when we think about proverbs 23 24
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That a father greatly rejoices In a righteous son and that in in a wise son.
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His heart is very glad and a righteous and wise son Think about what christ is to us think about what christ is to us first corinthians 1 30
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By the father's doing we are in christ jesus who became to us wisdom from god
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And righteousness and sanctification and redemption many times many times just as earthly children we struggle
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With whether or not our fathers rejoiced over us or loved us Or accepted us or favored us.
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We also struggle with whether or not God loves us and accepts us
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And truly rejoices in us or is he just someone bending his arm and he's tolerating us but as a father
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Rejoices in a righteous son And his heart is glad in a wise son
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If christ is your righteousness And if christ is your wisdom Then how do you think god looks at you
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If christ is all your righteousness before the father If christ is all your wisdom before the father.
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How do you think the heavenly father sees you? If you have christ you have the father's favor if you have christ you have the heavenly father's
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Joy, if you have christ you have the heavenly father's Acceptance you have his delight you know, it's
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On a father's day that we should remember This essential truth
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That god does not want us to live up to an ideal father -son relationship But god wants us to live in the ideal father -son relationship
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We can easily fall into that trap i gotta live up to the ideal I've been given the compass with north on the dial unless I unless I Get there and achieve it and somehow
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Live up to the ideal that i'm not doing enough But the moral absolute as true as it is is there
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And north is pointing Not because we have to make it all the way to north
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But because that is where we look and find God the father and god the son
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And we can by faith united with christ rejoice in that that ideal perfection and claim a righteousness not our own
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The righteousness of christ that covers us like a white garment
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That god looks on And sees no stain and accepts us and loves us
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It's so easy to fall into the trap of trying to live up to an ideal But we are to live in the ideal father -son relationship and I think when we do that this this this is the this is the door through which we go if we're going to follow through on the admonitions that we read about in proverbs 23, so It's when we look to christ.
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It's when we trust in him To be the perfect son for the perfect father It's when when we're in christ and we have the father's acceptance and love that this is when as fathers and as children
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This is when we repent of our self -righteousness This is when we repent of of the drunkenness and gluttony and sloth and adultery and everything else that that that drags us
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Down when we believe and trust in jesus christ the perfect son to find perfect peace with the perfect father
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Because it's only when we live in the ideal father -son relationship of god the father and god the son that we are given the not we're not we're not given the
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The task but we're given the power to live out Righteousness, we're given the power to live out holiness.
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We're given the strength to to pursue righteousness and holiness and and experience the blessings of that Righteousness and wisdom are pleasing to an earthly father
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But we really have no claim to those things Have no real access to those things unless we come to christ unless we come to christ
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We really need to strive this father's day to live out our father -son relationships through the gospel
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Fathers can never be the perfect father for our children. We're always going to fall short.
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There's going to be failures We're going to lack we're not going to be able to do enough provide enough Be there enough
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And the pressure is always there and every every stumbling of our children
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Can feel like a stamp of failure on our jobs as fathers on our roles as fathers
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But we have to live out the gospel. We have to apply the gospel to those relationships Uh, we need to know and entrust them to the heavenly father and ask that he who knows their needs before we even know to provide and to ask that he will care for them and We cannot and must not provoke our children by demanding that they be perfect for us
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Of course, we want them to be wise. Of course. We want them to be righteous We want them to to do things about which we can rejoice, but we cannot provoke them to wrath
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By demanding that they be what only christ can be to the heavenly father How do we live out the gospel we direct them to the perfect child the perfect son
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Not as the ideal to live up to but as the one in whom they can live Children, we cannot be the perfect child for our fathers if you if you reflect upon your relationship with your father with with Some regret with sorrow with some feeling of you know
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I never really seem to be able to measure up to his his standards I want you to reflect on the gospel of jesus christ that we've just talked about It's not up to you to make it to the north pole
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It's not up to you to live up to moral absolutes and standards it's up to you
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To turn to christ and find in him the righteousness by which you are accepted before the heavenly father
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Don't live in a sense of despondency or despair that you've never measured up turn to christ and I think this is the way that we can be released from bitterness or from anxiety or sorrow from frustrated expectations
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I think that this is key if we're going to honor our imperfect fathers honor their memories and truly show them love and respect
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That we have got to dig deep into the ideal father son relationship and if we're and if we're if we are
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Accepted in christ before the heavenly father Then we can be released from any kind of bitterness
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Or unforgiveness Towards our own earthly fathers where they have failed us or if if we have failed them
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We can be freed in the power of the perfect son to live humbly and graciously toward our own fathers
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This has been a fruitful meditation for myself this father's day the father of a righteous
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Son will greatly rejoice he who sires a wise son will be glad In him and I can't help but think about God the father and god the son and the joy that we each can have in that relationship
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Which will and should overflow? to our other Parent child relationships father child relationships today.
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Let's pray together Father, I thank you for our time that we've had together in your word. I pray that you would indeed
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Help us this day To make the most of the opportunity to reflect on who you are as our heavenly father and why we can call you that by the grace of your son jesus christ
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I thank you that he has lived perfectly That he always did what you called him to do always said what you instructed him to say
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That he was obedient Even to the point of death even death on a cross
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And because of his righteous ways and his wisdom You have given him a name which is above every name
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That of the name of jesus christ every knee shall bow and every tongue confess That he is lord to your glory
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And I pray that as we meditate on these things today that you would help us to Show show grace and speak truth to one another and encourage each other in the gospel.