Our scripture reading this morning is Deuteronomy chapter 11. Deuteronomy chapter 11. By God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments always. And know ye this day. For I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and unto all his land, and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day, and what he did unto you in the wilderness until ye came into this place, and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which He did. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it. And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from whence ye came out, where thou sowest thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs. But the land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. a land which the Lord thy God careth for. The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain. and that the land yield not her fruit, unless ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes, and ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, And when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up, and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house and upon thy gates, that your days may be multiplied and the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth. For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love the Lord your God. to walk in all his ways and to cleave unto him, then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before you, for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known. And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal. Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way, where the sun goeth down in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the Champaign over against Gilgal beside the plains of Morah? For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. Our text is verses 18 through 21. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them, your children, speaking of them, when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house and upon thy gates, that your days may be multiplied and the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, the text that we consider this evening is an exhortation to parents in the covenant of God to exert all of their effort to teach their children the word of God and to do that in all of their life with them. What is set forth here is distinctly a covenantal duty. That's evident because Moses is addressing the people of Israel the people to whom God had promised to be a God unto them and to their children, the people about whom God had remembered His promise, and remembering His promise had recently freed them from the slavery of Egypt by His grace, which redemption also destroyed their enemies, and the God who was in remembrance of his covenant, leading them presently through the wilderness desert into the land of Canaan, representing the life of the covenant people with God in a new creation. The text lays forth the duty of parents in the covenant toward their children. Moses makes clear already in verse 2 that he is specifically addressing the parents of children in the covenant people of Israel and not the children as such. The text lays forth also the duty of parents to teach their children, and to teach them the Word of God, as again, The prophet Moses makes clear they were to teach their children especially about the mighty deeds of God's grace in the covenant, redeeming them from Egypt, and even his judgments upon the ungodly, both in Israel as well as Egypt, as verse 2 makes clear, those things that their children had not seen. The text also makes clear this is full-time work. Work that begins by the covenant parents, in verse 18, laying up these words of God in their own heart and in their own soul, binding them upon their own hand as frontlets before their eyes. And then, going on to teach those things to their children at all times, when they get up and when they go to bed, in their work and in their recreation, even writing them on the doorposts so that when they enter and they leave the home, the covenant home, they remember to teach their children The text also makes clear this is the way of God's blessing. Failure in this regard resulted in great devastation and destruction, as God warned in this passage to many, many parents of the children of Israel. And in this way also, God blessed them in keeping this word of God to instruct their children God preserved their life and gave them long life in the land of Canaan. This is a calling to us parents. The same God has made a covenant with us and with our children and promised that he will be our God and we will be his people. The same God has given us the greater deliverance, that which was only typical in the Old Testament, deliverance from the bondage of sin and death by His own Son. The same Son who now leads us through our own pilgrimage journey into the eternity of a new creation, a new heavens, and a new earth. And the same God comes to us with the same word, calling us to carry out our duty to teach our children full-time the word of God, and even makes that part of our vows and the sign and seal of baptism. But this is also the calling of all of us in the covenant of God. For God makes clear in this text that this is the way that he gathers and defends and preserves his church. This is the primary way that God builds up his church and blesses his church. And we who desire that building up, that edification, and the blessing of God upon the church, therefore are called to see to it that this ordinance of God is carried out. Full-time parental teaching. Full-time parental teaching. That's the theme of the sermon this morning, and we notice in the first place the covenantal calling itself. The calling, the duty, the obligation that is laid upon us as parents this morning is a covenantal calling, a calling that is unique in the covenant of grace. God lays this calling upon covenant parents to be full-time teachers of his word to our children in that covenant of grace. The calling of the text, we should be clear, is not simply the calling to be full-time parents. In fact, we really don't even need to be called to that. That's simply assumed. That's simply what goes along with bearing children, the calling to rear them, to nurse them, to care for them until adulthood, when they can care for themselves, to provide them food and shelter, love and attention, all that is necessary for life. And it's most basic. It's simply what it means to be a parent. To be a parent is to care for one's children and nurture them. And failure to provide that really means that one is no parent at all. And God requires this of every parent who brings forth children. This also, of course, is full-time work. God lays the responsibility of the care and nurture of our children, especially on the fathers, as he did with Adam. And young men need to be prepared as they prepare to marry, to provide for that care and nurture of their children. Hopefully, in the marriage, should God graciously provide that. And since that labor is often carried out with a job and work away from the home, mothers must be prepared to be the ones through whom the father carries out that work. The result of failure even to provide that basic care and nurture is also evident all around us. We live in a world where parents are greedy and selfish. They're not interested in investing any time or effort or money into their children, or perhaps using money and other things as a substitute for the love of their children. They give their children over to all sorts of others to provide the care and responsibility for the care of their children. Give them over to the public schools and give them over to the state and give them over to grandparents to feed and to clothe and to house. Nor is the duty of the text that comes to us as covenant parents this morning simply to be full-time teachers of our children. That also is something that really we need not even be commanded to do if we understand anything about the relationship of parents to children. Whether we recognize it or not, whether we are carrying out the calling of the text or not, parents will be teaching their children, and their children will be learning something from the parents. that's simply due to the created order of things by God. God so created every human being that every human being is born of parents who are ordinarily the primary caregivers and therefore then the teachers of their children. God created the world so that every parent, therefore, is teaching their children something. And those children, as they grow up, are learning something and will learn it primarily from the parents. Parental teaching is basic to all other instruction and learning of the child. The child, of course, will learn much more and learn from various institutions and people. But the instruction and teaching of the parent will provide the basis or the matrix for all other learning. They will learn in the home under the parents, first of all, about their attitude and relationship before God. They will learn their world and life view, their views of the church or the state, their views of authority and power from the parents. They will learn about their responsibilities, their goals and their purpose from the parents. They will learn about money and finance from the parents. They will learn even about themselves and relationship to others, or even about themselves from the parents. And that's almost Automatic. It's simply the way it is. Children are like natural sponges, absorbing information from the parents, from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep, whether they're in the house or out of the house, whether on vacation or whether they're working, whether they're doing chores or whether they're relaxing, whether the parents are there or whether the parents are not. The children will be learning in their home from the parents. And there is where the child learns much about the parents and about themselves. where they will learn almost automatically whether their parents are godly or ungodly, whether their parents are believing or unbelieving, whether they will learn their parents are selfless or selfish, where they will learn that their parents are proud or humble, and they will learn about themselves, whether they are loved or unloved, whether they are a nuisance or the object of dedicated care and labor, whether they are there to fend for themselves or whether the parents are there to fend for them. Now, this is a calling that comes specifically to us believing parents in the covenant of grace with God, and a calling to instruct our children with regard to that covenant and the God of that covenant. That's brought out when the calling that's given here to parents is that it begins with the parents first laying what they must teach to the children on their own heart and soul. Notice how it all begins. Therefore shall ye, that is, you covenant parents who I have redeemed from the bondage of Egypt and brought through this howling wilderness, ye shall lay them up, these words, in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hands. that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. This is a calling, basically, simply to believe, to believe in the God of the covenant, to believe in the promises of the God of that covenant, to believe in one's heart and one's soul, the center of one's being. To believe in such a way that one has a living, vibrant relationship of love with God, and to trust in that God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. calling not simply to believe, but continue believing, to remember, to recall, to have what they must teach to the children always before their eyes and always, as it were, upon their hands. It is a calling to instruct, and the content of that instruction also is clear. Moses makes that clear in his introduction when he is speaking about what the parents know and know because they themselves have first seen it and implied, therefore, believes it, which is namely what God has done, that God has redeemed them from the bondage of sin and death. For them, that was pictured in their redemption from the land of Egypt, and the destruction of Egypt and its hosts in the Red Sea, and of the land of Egypt under the 10 plagues. For us, that would be to teach the reality that God has redeemed us and our children from the bondage of sin and death by Jesus Christ. by his crucifixion, as we read in the baptism form, as well as his resurrection. Notice that the content of that instruction then would also be not simply that God has redeemed us parents and done great things for us parents, but that God has redeemed also them. that they are there to instruct, that they are there as a part of the people of Israel and the people of God, because God brought them through the Red Sea upon dry gown, because God had redeemed them also, which is exactly why that great passage is a picture of baptism. we could easily summarize as the content of that instruction, simply the summary of what we read in our baptism form. This, therefore, is a full-time work, a full-time work really and essentially to teach our children the word of God. The calling, therefore, although it's certainly carried out in part by the establishment and the support of good Christian schools, and by such things as sending our children to the church for catechism, is not itself a carrying out of the calling in all of its aspects. The emphasis upon the passage is upon this instruction in the home. Certainly, this instruction is to be carried out outside the home also. That's implied even by the writing of the content of this instruction upon the doorposts as a reminder that the children, as well as the parents, must leave that home. But they must never forget that they are instructing outside of that home. Point being that the Lord here lays upon parents the duty to instruct the children, not the Christian school. The Christian school receives that duty from the parents themselves. But at the same time, the parents may not say to themselves, well, we started a school, and we send them to school on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday at church for catechism. Therefore, our work is done. Simply look at the focus of this full-time work. It's when you sit in thine house. Oh yes, instruct them also when you walk by the way outside the house, but don't forget also when you return to sleep, instruct before you go to bed. Instruct when you rise up before you leave the house. Even put them on the gates of your property. Covenantal parents are therefore instructed to teach their children the Word of God. In general, to teach their children that that Word of God is the Word of God. That what I'm teaching you is not my word. It is the authoritative, unchanging, infallible Word from God's own lips, breathed out of His mouth. It's a Word that comes from the Father. comes out as a word through the Son and by the breath of the Holy Spirit. Teach them it's a word that you cannot choose to ignore, to ignore when it suits you, or a word that changes with the times. It's a Word of God that's given to us as His rule, a Word that He demands that we obey and observe, a Word that is complete in every matter concerning our deliverance from sin and death. Teach them that this Word is the Word about the most fundamental thing in their life, which is God. It's not even first and foremost a Word about them, or about their relationship with God, or even God's relationship to them. But it is God's Word revealing Himself. And without God, they are nothing. Without God, they have nothing. Teach them that that word is fundamental to the ordering of their life and our life. It's a word that applies to any culture and any time of their life. It applies to every event and every circumstance of life. It applies to their own calling and responsibility. And it's a word, in short, that applies to their every thought, word, and deed. It is, you see, the fact that this is a duty and an obligation that comes to us as covenant parents, that is within the covenant, and the content is the Word of God that explains why it requires full-time labor. Whenever this is not carried out, whenever, whether that whenever be a never, as if I never teach my children the Word of God, or if I stop teaching them the Word of God at any time or at any moment, what they will learn then is the Word of Man. If they're not learning the Word of God, they will learn the Word of Man. This is full-time work because the Word of God is not naturally in their heart, and not something they will be inclined to learn, but rather something they are opposed to, that they are against, because that is who they are by nature. If they do not learn the Word of God and learn the Word of man, what they learn then is a word that doesn't reckon with God at all, a word that in fact contradicts the Word of God, and a word that is powerless to save them from their misery. Powerless to save them from sin and from death. A word that's ineffective to change their heart and life. And in fact, the word of man is a word that although it promises many, many blessings, is in fact a word that leaves one empty and helpless and leads always to destruction. Besides that, this calling that comes to covenant parents is full-time because it reflects the kind of God who is the God of the covenant. Ask yourself, why is it that covenantal parents must always be instructing their covenantal children in the Word of God? And the answer is, in part, because that's the God whom we serve. That's who the God of the covenant is. He's a God who is a parent in his own being who has a child, a father who begets a son and loves that son and cares for that son by teaching him, by imparting to him all that he is in his own spirit. A God then who reflects that toward us. A God who teaches us and instructs us by joining us to his own Son by that same Spirit, as again is signified by baptism. A God then who by that Spirit instructs and teaches And therefore, of course, when we have children, children whom He, as the God of the covenant, includes into His covenant, calls upon us also, therefore, to instruct in His Word by the Spirit. Not only that, but this is how the Lord is pleased in the covenant to maintain and bless and fulfill His covenant promises in the church, or the covenant of God. God delivers us from the guilt and shame of sin by His death. God also delivers us from the power of sin by His life. God does that by applying that life, the life of His Word to our hearts by His Spirit. And God has made abundantly clear that He is pleased to impart that Word by His Spirit through the instruction of parents in His covenant. Besides that, this is full-time work because our children are full-time sinners. We are full-time sinners, and both we and our children are called to serve God full-time. This is why, and at least one reason why at least, this calling cannot be fulfilled simply by establishing Christian schools and sending our children there. Why even that is full-time work? Because when those children go to school, when they go to church, they are sinning and being taught by sinful teachers. This is a reason why it's so important that we live our life with our children, why at all times the children should be with the parents. Or if for a short time, say for in school, carefully designated surrogates of the parents, labor for the parents, and speak for the parents, and love those children as the parents do. The issue you see is not always what we say while they grow up quickly, which is certain. An infant of today very quickly is a teenager leaving the home tomorrow. It's not essentially even because they need us for food and for clothes and for hugs. but it's because they are sinners in need of the Word of God. And if we do not provide that as parents, they perish. More specifically about that Word of God, which is the content of the instruction, the second point is the specific instruction, and I want to talk about that a little bit more. The pattern here is specifically what Moses was referring to when he was speaking to the parents of Israel. These my words, teach them what? It goes back to verse earlier, these my words. What were those words? Well, surely it's the whole content of the Holy Scripture, but if we look at what Moses was specifically looking at and thinking about, that's helpful. And when you do that, you will discover that Moses was referring to everything, of course, in the first five books of the Bible. He was referring to everything that was recorded there about God, the creation of the world, the fall of man, God's deliverance, and his needed deliverance of Noah and his family who found grace in his eyes from a world that had quickly degenerated to utter ungodliness and violence, such that God required the destruction of the world in a flood. all of the history of God leading the people of Israel into Egypt, their growth there, their eventual slavery there, and that especially is the subject that Moses has in mind. Remember, in other words, to teach them what he calls how God delivered them the chastisements of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, His stretched out arm. Teach them His miracles and His acts. And notice the acts which He did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh. Teach them not as God's common grace for Pharaoh and His love for Pharaoh and his hosts, but as detestation of them for enslaving his people. A man who was a picture of Satan himself and his Antichrist. Teach what he did, not only to the army of Pharaoh and his hosts and his chariots and how he made the Red Sea to flow over him. It's always a wonderful picture of itself. Here is the water of baptism. The very same water, much like Noah, the very same water that was his salvation. They pass through that water by which baptism is signified. The grace of God, that very same water, overflows and destroys Pharaoh. Teach them not only that, but what he did to ungodly and wicked men in the nation of Israel itself, like Dathan and Debiram. who were swallowed up by the earth for their rebellion against Moses and against Aaron. It is not the extent of it, however. Moses has in mind, teach them this very command and demand to teach their children. Teach them the law of God that is found in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Teach them all these things. That is, teach them the gospel, the gospel of their gracious salvation, and teach them the law and commandments that are attached to that gospel, those which are obligations and duties by virtue of the fact that I have delivered you from the bondage of Egypt. How then does that apply to us? Well, we have the entire Scriptures. And the Word of God comes to the parents of believing, or believing parents of children in the covenant of grace and says, teach your children these holy Scriptures. These right here. The whole thing. All of it. Everything that's here, you may leave parts out. You may throw parts out. You may pick your way through it. Choose what you want to teach. You teach them these words. What is God really saying there? Well, we'll summarize briefly. First of all, teach them who God is. How can you teach your children the Word of God without teaching them who God is? And now it's helpful for us to remember, leave us out of it for now. Just teach them who God is. It's His Word, He gave it, and He gave it to first of all reveal Himself. What was God doing when He sent those mighty plagues and destroyed Pharaoh and his host? What was God doing when He ordered the earth to open up? and swallow up Dathan and Abiram. Was that all about Israel? No. God was instructing Israel what kind of God He is. God was instructing Israel about His righteousness and His judgment, as well as His grace and goodness. When you teach your children, start there. Don't start, first of all, with who they are, or even God's relationship to them, or your relationship to them. Teach them who God is. Teach them about the wonder and glory of God. Teach them that God is triune. A God who is in Himself a family of Father and Son, who lives a wonderful relationship of love in the bond of love, the Spirit Himself. What a wonderful, wonderful thing to remember at baptism. baptize children, teach them the very things that are found in the form. Then we may move on to talk about God's relationship to us and to them as it's revealed in the scripture. Teach them who they are without God. Teach them who they are in their nature, again, as found in the baptism form. Teach them how they are lost without God. There is no hope without God. Teach them that they have no hope of attracting God to themselves in themselves. Teach them that there is no hope in their work or their deeds or even in their own love for God that would bring God to them. God must visit them in His grace. Teach them how God has done that. How God has done that by making His promises. Promises that He never fails, that He never deserts, that He never forgets about. And we might even add, even when we fail and are great sinners. That too is found in the word, is it not? The God who says even in the book of Deuteronomy, I will never leave you or forsake you, did in fact seem to do that with the nation of Israel when it lived in idolatry and wickedness and what was going on. God makes clear that even in all that, he would remember his promises. And even though He might scatter them over the face of the earth and chastisement, He would gather His covenant people again unto Himself, again in His grace and in His mercy. Teach them how all of the Old Testament, all of it, points to Christ. And here we might add, too, The very duties and obligations of the law of God are found only in Him too. Teach them what Jesus has done. How that Jesus in His death has delivered us from the curse of the law. He has delivered us from the law. It's an amazing truth to teach them. Teach them how we are justified on the basis of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And through faith, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us so we stand before God without sin, without iniquity. Teach them exactly because of what Jesus has done, even the demands of God's law, to become His promises. That's brought out in a very wonderful, wonderful way here. How God makes clear that even the demands and the duties that He gives us in the covenant aren't conditions upon which He is dependent. He is free from such dependence. But that He actually works it and promises to work it. Did you notice that even in the passage? among all the callings to do this and to do that, to heed God's commandments and teach them to God, is at the end the promises of God that he will give them the land of Jordan. They will cross it over. They will be speaking the curses and the blessings from the mountains that are there in the land because God will give it. Ye shall pass over Jordan to go in. Is that a? Law or gospel? That's a promise of God. Ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you and ye shall possess it and dwell therein and then notice and shall observe to do the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. What is that? Is that the law of God, or is that the promise of the gospel? It's the promise of God. Such is God's deliverance that that is what He promises, even as He calls us to do it. Teach them that about God. So great is our God, so great is His grace, so great is His deliverance. And of course, when you teach them that, you teach them also the relationship to their neighbor, their calling toward their neighbor, to love their neighbor as themselves, to love their neighbor, especially in the church, and in their marriage, and in their home, and their parents, even as God loves them. God's promise includes, or God's calling here comes with a promise, an amazing promise, really a promise that is everlasting and eternal, that your days may be multiplied in the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon earth. Now all of you, as soon as you hear that, immediately can think of the fulfillment of all this, and the new creation, can you not? Even as I'm sure the children of Israel heard that, and they were thinking about that land flowing with milk and honey that laid ahead. But notice that even in that, there is a promise that God will take care of them even now upon the earth. It's why God will go through the prophet Moses later on to explain how God has cared for them up to this point. God is speaking these words even on the cusp of crossing the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. They have been in the wilderness for a long time, and God is reminding them how he cared for them. Even though there were chastisements and judgments, terrible, they were ungodly and wicked, who rejected this Word of God, who were really fundamentally Egyptians in heart and in mind and in soul. God kept them, God delivered them, and God would bring them to that heavenly land. How did God do that? What were the means He used? Well, God used instruction. That's why He's doing what He's doing here, acting as a good parent, reminding His own people of their calling and their duty, and one that flows even out of His grace and in thanksgiving. That's what God is doing. God is showing there that He is pleased to use us. Oh, He doesn't need us. God can gather His church without us. He does that. God will call children right out of the world into the church, in spite of sinful, wicked, ungodly parents. He did that in the covenant of grace, too. How many times did he not give a godly, God-fearing king who came from wicked and ungodly parents? He doesn't need us, but this is the way he is pleased to gather, defend, and preserve his church, and lays before us the warning. He's serious in that, failed to do that. Be lazy in regard to that. Reject my word. Reject your calling. And God visits with a curse, idolatry. He withholds the rain, the rain of his blessing. And we have only ourselves to blame. But God also promises us long and happy days in the way of teaching our children his word. And when God is doing that, that doesn't mean we get the credit or taking the credit. As our canons say, all honor and glory and thanksgiving belongs wholly to God. And imagine that blessing. It's a blessing not only in this life, a healthy and a strong family, a healthy and a strong church, faith to continue walking our pilgrimage journey until the day we die, and then die with good hope and ardent love in our soul, longing for our heavenly home. But imagine there is a day a day that God promises in his word, a day that we teach our children about, that we shall live in a new creation, in a creation much more vast than the land of Canaan, with much more than milk and honey. For our Lord Jesus Christ himself is there all day and all night. and we live and reign with Him, free from sin, free from the guilt of sin, not only, but the power of sin, so that we perfectly, righteously, with all our heart, mind, and soul, and strength, serve Him, love Him and our neighbor forever and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Lord our God and Father in heaven, we thank thee for thy word, thy word of grace, of peace and reconciliation, and the word that calls us to our noble duty, a duty of thy grace to labor therefore in thanksgiving and joy for so great a salvation, instructing our children in that very salvation, thy word. We are unable of ourselves, O Lord, to do any of this. And we pray for thy grace, for the presence of thy Spirit mightily to move us in love for thee and our children in the covenant of grace, to bend every effort, to use all of our time and energy in the teaching and instruction of them in thy word, all of thy word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.