This morning to the book of Job, and read the first chapter of the book. Job chapter 1. This is the Word of God in Job 1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and 500 she-asses and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. and feareth God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away. and slain servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee." While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, "'Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house. And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head. and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. And said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." So far we read God's Word. I call your attention this morning to the fifth verse of this chapter in which we read this, And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, a couple of weeks ago, I preached a sermon on verse 21 of Job chapter 1. I wrote that sermon for the occasion of baptism that I was asked to administer at Zion, and I preached that sermon for us as well. It was a sermon in which we considered the fundamental truth of the Christian faith, and that is that God is sovereign absolutely and eternally. And that in His sovereignty, God gives and God takes. But in response to His sovereignty, we as Christians at all times say, blessed be the name of the Lord. That was an evidence of the wisdom of Job. And the fact that he feared God in all things. In light of that sermon a couple of weeks ago and turning to Job 1, I thought it would be edifying this morning, only a short time after that, to turn to Job 1 again. And to consider at the occasion of baptism another evidence or demonstration of the wisdom and the fear of God that Job had. This time specifically as it relates to his relationship to his children. As it's stated in the text before us this morning, Job sanctified his children. That's the truth that you, Kyle and Kelly, learned from this morning. And that's the truth that all of us as a congregation learn from as we strive to follow this good example of Job in sanctifying his children. That's the theme of the sermon this morning, Sanctifying Our Children. The sermon will follow these three points. In the first place, we consider the concern of Job. Secondly, we consider the activity of Job. And then in the third place, we consider the urgency. of Job. The concern that Job had regarding their spiritual well-being, the activity that Job engaged in regarding sanctifying them, and the urgency that Job had evidenced by him doing it early in the morning and continually. In Job 1.5, Job shows a proper godly concern for his children. It was a concern for the spiritual welfare of his children in their relationship to God as it relates to what was their greatest need that they had, the forgiveness of their sins. To understand that, let's consider the context in which we find these words briefly. The context is stated in verse 4. It's a bit difficult to understand exactly what's going on here, but it's clear from verse 4 in Job 1 that Job's children were engaged in some sort of celebration. A time of eating and drinking together. There was good family unity. The fact that they did this all together as brothers and as sisters. The occasion for this feasting may have been their birthdays. I say that because of what Job says in Job 3, verse 1. He says this, after this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day. If we were to continue reading in Job 3, we would know that his day refers to the day of his birth. Now in Job 1.4 we read this, And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day. It may have been the case that these were some sort of birthday celebrations in which the children got together for a time of feasting, a time of eating and of drinking. It's important to understand that these times of celebration by Job's children were not necessarily, in and of themselves, sinful. That's evident from what Job says in our text. Job does not say that they have sinned in response to this eating and this drinking. Instead, Job says it may be, perhaps, they sinned. and cursed God in their hearts. And what that indicates is that what they were doing was not in and of itself wrong. And Job does not go and seek their forgiveness for sins that were explicit. It's a different concern that he has, as we will see in a little bit. It's altogether proper at times in our lives, as we know, to engage in a time of celebration. A time of eating and drinking together as believers. When these times of celebration, however, were completed, Job did something. He did what is stated in our text. He sanctified his children. And he did that by offering on their behalf burnt offerings. And what was driving Job to do that after these times of celebration was this concern that Job has. And the concern, and this is now what we focus on for a few minutes, is revealed in what he says as I read it a moment ago. It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Those words of Job indicate that he has a proper, godly, spiritual concern about his children. And it was a concern, chiefly, that dealt with their relationship to God as sinners. Job understood that his children had sinful natures. And what he says here indicates that. He's not saying that Job's children were explicitly engaged in drunkenness, or by their words and actions, blasphemous behavior against God. And now he goes and seeks the forgiveness of their sins. That's not what Job is saying here. And we have good reason to believe on account of what Job says, that that was not the case when they got together for these times of celebration. But yet, Job is concerned about their sins. He's concerned that they may have been engaged in sin during those times of celebration. And what that makes clear is that he understood who they are as sinners. And he understood what is the true nature of sin. And the true nature of sin is that it is in our hearts first. There may have been nothing explicitly and overtly sinful walking in terribly blasphemous ways, but he says maybe they have sinned against God in their hearts. Job knew what every child of God knows. And that is, even as children of God, We have sinful natures that cling to us. This gives us an understanding that we must have of our children as parents. Our children are saints, but our children are also sinners. And those two truths are not contradictory, but we hold those truths in harmony with each other. By the grace of God, we say this morning with respect to our children, they're saints. They're God's children. And we believe that on account of God's covenant promise that He saves believers and their seed. And that's why this morning, Emmeline must receive the sign of baptism, the sign of the washing away of her sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. We view our children as God's children, saints, as the form for baptism indicates, sanctified in Jesus Christ. But that does not negate this reality. That we also view our children and understand our children to be sinners. They are sinners. on account of a sinful nature that still clings to them and that will cling to them all the days of their lives on this side of the grave. Yes, God has saved them, we believe. Yes, God has worked in their hearts the life of Jesus Christ. Yes, they have the beginning of the obedience that is in Jesus Christ. But they still have a sinful flesh. that makes even their best works as filthy rags. And therefore, as sinners, they still have the need all of their life long of the forgiveness of their sins. So that Job can look at his children, and though the activity that they were engaged in was not explicitly sinful in and of itself, say, I know them. My children are sinners. They have a sinful nature. And it may be that in their hearts, they sinned against God. And therefore, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to sanctify My children by bringing for them burnt offerings. The Bible teaches us in the name of humility not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. As mature believers, we all must have the perspective of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1, where he says, I am the chief of sinners. We all say that about ourselves, knowing our own sinful flesh. It's also important in the name of humility as parents not to think of our children more highly than we ought to think. That's something that we need to be warned against as parents and as grandparents. There is something in us as parents and as grandparents to think a certain way about our children and our grandchildren. that reveals itself in a physical way. And there's something positive about this. This indicates the love that parents have for children. But it's always the case that for parents, when they look at their children physically, they see their children as being, especially when they're young, very, very cute. The cutest children. in contrast to the other children that are in this world. And there's something healthy about that. There's a love there for parents, for their children. A special bond there between parents and their children. But that's very serious when it filters into the spiritual. So that when we as parents look at our children, when they're young, or teenagers, or young adults, or really all of our lives as parents, We are blind to the reality that they too are sinners who have sinful natures, who have the need of the forgiveness of their sins in Jesus Christ. We look in humility. at our children, knowing this too, that that sinful nature that will cling to my child all of his or her life is the sinful nature that I as a father and as a mother have passed down to them. And so when we look at our children, we have the attitude of Job that they are not above the reality of sin. But in humility, we understand that it may be They have sinned against God in their hearts. That affects us as parents in a very practical way as we think about our life with our children. To know that this is who they are with a sinful nature. To have this concern and attitude of Job. This affects our response when we get a call from a parent or from a teacher that indicates that our son or our daughter was at the party drinking on a Friday night. The natural inclination as a parent is to say, yeah, he may have been there, she may have been there, but he wasn't drinking. It may have been the other kids that were doing that, but not my son, not my daughter. No. The proper understanding of our children is that they are sinners. And when we think about our children in that respect and in humility, know that. When we hear something like that, we say, thank you for indicating that to me. I believe you as a parent or as a teacher. And now I'm going to go do what Job does, and I'm going to lead my children to the cross of Jesus Christ, because they need the forgiveness that is only in the blood of Jesus Christ. This affects, for example, what we do with our teenage sons and daughters regarding the seventh commandment as I've been preaching on that in the Heidelberg Catechism. This attitude that it may be that they have sinned because I know their sinful inclinations. is the very reason why we do certain things as parents. We guide them, we direct them, we keep them from unmonitored access to the internet on mobile devices and things like that. It has to do with understanding the nature of our children as sinners. And at this time, Job's children are quite a bit older. And if that's true when they're even older, how much more true when they are younger and going through the years of maturity. This is the great concern, beloved, that we must have for our children. It is the fact that they are sinners who need, all of their life long, the forgiveness of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. Our great concern is not, first and foremost, their happiness. That's the worldview of the culture in which we live and unbelievers. Go to the internet. Do a search for what do parents want for their children. Number one, that they be happy. Quite frankly, beloved, that's simply not what life is about. It's not about the happiness of your children or your teenagers. It's not about making sure that they have what they want and that they can do what they want to do. And too often, that's the way it works in families. Parents no longer are parents in their authority over their children, but they are parents catering to the needs and the desires and the wants of their children. All in the name of this is what is going to make them happy. This is why they must have this or they must do Think about Job. He was rich. He could have given all ten of his children as much as he wanted to give them, but that's not his concern. It has to do with their spiritual walk before God. It's not even the case that our great concern with respect to our children is their physical well-being. We are concerned about the physical well-being of our children. We pray fervently that God will care for our children physically. We think right now of Skylar in the hospital, and how many of us have thought about her in this past week and prayed for her, and continue to do while she's in the hospital right now, recovering from surgery. Our great concern is for her physical well-being. It's not our greatest concern for her, nor is it the greatest concern for any other child or young person or young adult in the church. Health or no health, what matters most is this, that they receive from God the forgiveness of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. And that must be reflected in our prayers too, so that we are not overly concerned with the physical, but are overly concerned rather with the spiritual. That's what matters most. And that's the concern that Job has as it's revealed in this text. It may be that they have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Because of who they are as sinners. And it's that concern that drives Job to do what he does in this text. And what Job does, as it's explained in verse 5, is he sanctifies his children. And He rises up early in the morning and offers burnt offerings according to the number of them all." The main word there is that He sanctifies His children. The word sanctify is the root word from which we get the English word holy. And holiness is the idea of being set apart. We need to make clear what this does not mean. This does not mean that Job, by what he did, had the ability to make his children holy. Job could not do that. No man can do that. No parent can do that with respect to their children. That is a divine work and a divine work of God. Only He alone is able to work in the hearts and in the lives of men and children to make them holy, to sanctify them. And we as parents know that all too well. In the end, we are powerless to do what only God is able to do. But yet the text says that Job sanctified them. And what that means is that Job He consecrated His children to God. And Job interceded on behalf of his children and brought his children and their needs and their sins before the throne of grace. In that sense, Job sanctified his children. He consecrated them, interceding on their behalf, and brought them to God. Job is operating here in the function of a priest in his family. And that's important to understand what this means for Job and what this means for us as fathers in our homes. This is what a priest does. This is what the priests in the Old Testament did. Their concern was holiness. The priest in the Old Testament had on his mitre holiness to the Lord. And his job as priest was to bring the people of Israel to God. To consecrate them to God. And in our homes, you as fathers are priests who consecrate your children to God. That's a helpful way to think about our callings as fathers in the home. As fathers, we hold the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. Specifically, in our headship as fathers and in our role with our children. As fathers, you are prophets. All your life long, called to teach and bring the Word of God to your children. At specific times of instruction, but also in your everyday language, bringing them the truth of God's Word. As fathers, you are kings. And as a king, you defend your children and their souls from sin, and the world, and the devil. You make sure that in the walls of your home, certain things are kept out for the spiritual good of your children. But you're also priests. And as priests, what you do is you take your children and intercede on their behalf and you bring them and their needs before the throne of grace in heaven. And that's what Job does here. in light of His knowledge that they are sinners with a sinful nature. He knows them to be sinners and He does what only He can do in response to that reality that they are sinners. And He brings them, therefore, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the text says. He sent and sanctified them And He sanctified them by offering burnt offerings for their sins. He brought them to Christ. The burnt offering was the offering that pointed to the promised Messiah. The burnt offering with the shedding of blood was the covering. The only covering. that there is for the sins that his sons and his daughters committed. And so on behalf of them, Job brings those sins to God by offering for them the burnt offerings that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. But he did that in such a way that he directed the children themselves to that cross Not to be lost in the text is the significant words that Job sent and sanctified them. And I believe that what that refers to is the fact that Job did this in the presence of His children themselves. He sent and sanctified them. And He sanctified them by offering burnt offerings for them. And so when you put this together, what's going on here is that Job is acting as a priest in his family on their behalf. for the sins that they have committed, He is offering burnt sacrifices. But in doing that, He is directing the eyes and the hearts of His children to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And through that, calling them to a faith and trust in Jesus. And that explains what we do as parents for our children too. We must sanctify our children as priests in our home as fathers. And we do that by interceding on their behalf. We do that by going to God in prayer and seeking the forgiveness of the sins of our children in the blood of Jesus Christ. We do that also by bringing them to the house of God on the Lord's day. Because it is here in the house of God from week to week that the burnt offering of which the text speaks is expounded upon and explained. But we do that all in such a way that we are consciously setting before our children The cross of Jesus Christ. And directing their eyes and their hearts to that cross and blood of Jesus Christ which they need. And as they grow older, in which they must place their faith and in which they must place their trust for the forgiveness of their sins. My point with this, beloved, is that they are not doing this just in private. Interceding on behalf of them privately But He's doing this in their presence so that they themselves are led to the cross of Christ which they need. In a certain sense, beloved, that characterizes the whole of our lives with our children, and our teenagers, and our young adults. All of our lives with them. is a bringing them in every way possible to the cross of Jesus. And as they grow older, we are instructing them of the need for them to look to that cross and to believe in Jesus Christ because that's the greatest need that they have in light of their sins as they stand before God. And notice the specificity with which Job did this. It says that Job offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. He offered a burnt offering for his eldest son. He offered a burnt offering for His next oldest son, and right down the line for all ten children individually. That governs the way that we think about this with our own children. Sometimes when we think about the Old Testament and these offering of sacrifices, we think about it in terms of them just mechanically going through this process of sacrifices. And there was a certain outward emphasis in the Old Testament. But as Job was doing this, he was thinking about each particular child. and certainly bringing to God the needs of that particular child right down the line of all ten of them. And let that be reflected in the way in which we live with and sanctify our own children as we bring them to God. I gave two examples earlier. One was prayer. That's the main way in which we do this. There's a time and a place for prayers that are general in nature. But we also need to pray very specifically. Fathers, you pray specifically for your children in the presence of your children. Bringing their sins before God and seeking forgiveness for them. Bringing their needs before God in the particular place that they are in in their lives. And that begins at a very young age. The kindergartner who goes to school has certain needs that a father must pray for in the presence of the kindergartner. The teenage boy has needs as it relates to the temptations of this world and the inclinations to sin that he needs to hear being spoken of in the prayers that his father offers for him. in family worship. The young man or young woman whose dating has particular needs and certain sins that may be committed in that dating, and they must be prayed for specifically too. Each one of them, in particular, received a burnt offering for the sins that they may have committed. There's a certain urgency that Job reveals too in this. And the urgency is revealed in two things. Number one, the fact that he did this early in the morning. And number two, the fact that he did this continually. Job did this early in the morning, the text says. That indicates the seriousness of this. That indicates the urgency that was in his heart relative to the need that they had for the forgiveness of their sins. You do what's important to you early in the morning. And that's evident simply from the fact that it takes discipline to get up early in the morning. I understand some are able to do it easier than others. But if you're willing to get up early in the morning to do something, you have a reason to get up early in the morning to do something. Because whatever you're going to do, it's important that it get done. Job rose up early in the morning because of this concern that he had for the forgiveness of his children's sins and to intercede on their behalf. How urgent is this to us? as parents, as we think about our children and the fact that they are sinners. As fathers, you need to provide for the physical needs of your family. And so as fathers, you need to wake up early, likely, to go to work to provide for their needs. But there's a greater need that your children have. And it's not that they can eat, and that they can drink, and that they have a house, and that they have clothes. That's a significant need. But it's a need of the forgiveness of their sins. And let that importance be reflected in your everyday life, so that you, even early in the morning, before you go to work, because you're so concerned about your spiritual welfare of your children, bring their needs before the throne of grace in prayer. But remember the point that I made, that what Job is doing here is also together as a family, He sent them, and sanctified them, and offered burnt offerings in the morning for them." That's powerful as it relates to how the Holy Spirit works in the hearts and lives of our children. To rise up early in the morning as a family, and for a father to lead in worship, because that's ultimately what's going on here. It's worship. to lead the family in worship and to bring the needs of the family before the throne of grace in prayer and from His Word. Obviously, that may not be able to be done every morning, but at certain times it may be able to be done. And I think specifically of a Saturday morning, or a Sunday morning, On a Saturday morning, before you go to the ball fields, and before you go to the soccer fields, before you are busy with the activities of the day, you wake up as a family early in the morning, and the Father leads in worship. Maybe in light of the Friday night, with teenagers in the house, not necessarily saying that they were engaged in explicitly sinful behavior, but it may be, perhaps, They sinned. And in the end, we know they did sin. And so you begin your day on Saturday morning in a time of worship, seeking the forgiveness of God for the sins of your children and the family. Or on Sunday morning, certainly as an opportunity before public worship, there's family worship as you bring your needs before God. The other evidence of this urgency is the fact that Job did this continually, the text says. What we're reading here was not a one-time activity. Job did not do this just once in their life and say, I've fulfilled my responsibility as a father. He did not do this once because he knew what was true for himself was also true for his children. All my life as a father, I walk in sin. All my life as a father, I need to go to the throne of grace for the forgiveness of my sins. All my life, I must consciously trust in Jesus for that forgiveness. And that's just as true for all the lives of my children. And so, continually, He interceded on their behalf and sought the forgiveness of the sins of His children. And that's reflected in our lives as parents with our children. It starts here. Bringing them to God in baptism. But it only begins here. as prayers all their life long, as instruction all their life long, as teaching about what church is about and why we need to hear the gospel from week to week, occurs all our life long. We are continually interceding on their behalf, because their great need is that God would forgive their sins, and that God would work in them a holy life of thanks. Beloved, we can't do it. We cannot work this actually ourselves in the hearts of our children. But God is pleased to use us. God is pleased to use means. cultivate the life of Jesus Christ that He has worked in their hearts. And understanding that truth, we go forth from this text striving to consecrate our children and to intercede on their behalf. So that as we bring our children to Jesus, day by day and week by week and year by year, God is pleased to use that. So that not only are they baptized, But one day the Lord willing, understanding themselves the need that they have because of their own sins, they confess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in the end, it's only through that faith that they receive the forgiveness of sins, and through that faith that they walk the life of holiness and sanctification. We cannot do it, but God does. And God is pleased to use our faithful upbringing and our faithful interceding to truly sanctify them as His children. It's in that confidence then that we hear this Word, and it's in that confidence that we strive to go forth in faithfulness to it. Amen.