I invite you to turn with me first this morning to 1st Samuel chapters 1 and 2 as we read just a few verses from those chapters, familiar portions of Scripture. 1st Samuel 1, 1 and 2, and we read that in connection, really as background for our consideration of Proverbs 22, verse 6, and then we'll turn there and read verses 1 through 6 of Proverbs 22. But first of all, 1 Samuel 1, read verses 21-28. Of course, by this time, Samuel has been born. And just to remind us all of the vow, what it says in verse 11 of chapter 1, the vow that Hannah had made. And she made a vow saying, O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant, but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life. And no razor will ever be used on his head. And then verse 21, as we continue reading God's Word. When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always. Do what seems best to you, Elkanah, her husband told her. Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord make good his word. So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, As surely as you live, my Lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. In chapter 2, again picking up at verse 22, but a reminder from verse 12, Eli's sons were wicked men. They had no regard for the Lord. Verse 22, Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. So he said to them, Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons, it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the Lord's people. If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the Lord's will to put them to death. But the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men. If you would turn to Proverbs 22. Proverbs chapter 22. Beginning at verse 1. A good name is more desirable than great riches. To be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Rich and poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life. In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul strays far from them. And then our text this morning, train a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not turn from it. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word this morning. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, this text is probably one of the most well-known of all the Proverbs. If you ask someone in general, do you know any Proverbs from the Bible, they might mention this text. It's probably one of the most well-known of all the Proverbs in Scripture. This verse is a source of great comfort to Christian parents as Christian parents strive in the strength of the Lord to be obedient to it, to raise their children to know the Lord. It's a source of great comfort that God says these words to His people. But at the same time, it brings questions and concerns to others who may be struggling because they may have a child who, for a season and for whatever reason, has turned. And it's then, beloved, that we must also remember what a proverb is. A proverb is a short, to the point expression of a general truth with regard to a specific situation. All Proverbs are not necessarily absolute guarantees. That may be hard and difficult for us to hear. But there are exceptions when it comes to many of them. Now, for example, verse 2 says, Rich and poor have this in common, the Lord is the maker of them all. That's an absolute truth, isn't it? But back up to chapter 21, verse 21, He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor. Verse 23. He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. Or consider verse 4 of chapter 22. Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life. We hear those and we know that they're not absolutely true all the time. But Proverbs are an expression of a general truth with regard to a specific situation. They're not an absolute guarantee. And here, in this text, generally speaking, most children brought up in the knowledge and fear of the Lord, by the grace of God, will walk in the Lord's path. Though there are exceptions. But I submit to you this morning that it is not those exceptions that are to be our focus, but our focus is to be on the encouragement that God gives here. Our focus is to be on the sense of the awesome task in doing what God commands and in what it means. Our focus is to be on the comfort of what God is doing through us in the lives of covenant youth. Our focus, beloved, is to be on the awesome task of making the salvation of the soul the primary object of instruction. This verse considers the instruction of covenant youth. That's what we consider this morning. Notice, first of all, it's diligent duty. It's diligent duty by parents, right? Parents who themselves have been taught and instructed. And it's a natural duty, isn't it? Because children are in their care. I'm talking to Greg and Becky this morning about life is not the same. The moment that child enters your life, you cannot imagine life without that child. It will never be the same again. It's a natural duty because children are in the care of their parents. Children, already before they are born, have the love of their parents. And the family is to be a community of teaching and learning, and specifically a community of teaching and learning of God and godliness. We think back to Old Testament Israel. They were called over and over again to remember. Remember what God has done for you. Remember who He is. Remember how you have benefited from it. And then teach it to your children. Set up memorial stones. Why? So children might ask. Teach them. Or as we read in Deuteronomy 6, speak of the holiness of God, of His law, with your children when you're on the path, When you lie down, when you get up, talk about it. Teach it. And in Ephesians 6, verse 4, Paul says, Fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and in the instruction of the Lord. The Christian family, you see, is the church in miniature form. It's a tiny church where the instruction in the faith is to take place. Where the worship of God is to be found. It's a natural duty. It's also a glorious duty. Think about Hannah. Hannah dedicated Samuel to the Lord, but she didn't end there. She then raised him as God's child. He belongs to God. And we notice there are contrasts too between Hannah and Eli, between the way that she sought to raise him according to this text, but the way Eli failed to raise his sons that way. And there too, a sad, sad picture of what may happen. if parents do not take this duty seriously. It's a glorious duty, beloved, because these are God's children entrusted to our care, entrusted to us for our safekeeping. We are called, in a sense, to one day return them to God in better shape than how we received them. And it's also an avowed duty. We're reminded this morning of the baptismal vow as Greg and Becky took that reminded as parents ourselves who have also brought our children for the sacrament, reminded of the vow that we have taken ourselves before God and His people, His church. And we need that reminder, don't we? Each and every time we witness the sacrament, in many ways it's for us as believers. It's God's promise to the child, but it's for us as believers as we witness that sacrament again and again and as we are reminded of the vow that we took before God and His church. Especially that third question. Do you promise and intend to instruct this child as soon as he is able to understand in the aforesaid doctrine and cause him to be instructed therein to the utmost of your power? Now, I checked my records, and this morning, Samuel is my privilege. He is the 68th infant that I've had the privilege to administer the sacrament of baptism to. And in all those 68, not once have parents said no. Not once have they said no to that question or any of the other questions. We have taken a vow before the Lord. And beloved, we are called to be true to that vow. We are responsible to God for that vow. But notice too, cause them to be instructed And therefore, it's a shared duty. It does take a village, not the kind that one of our former first ladies tried to teach us about. We are not to entrust our children to just anyone. It takes a village, a Christian village. It takes a covenant community. Along with the family, God has blessed us with the church. And we entrust our children to the faithful preaching of the Word of God. and we entrust them to faithful Sunday school and catechism teachers and young peoples and gems and cadets and leaders who love the Lord and love the salvation of our children's souls. We entrust them to Christian teachers for whom we are thankful and Christian schools. But also the covenant community includes the family influence, uncles, aunts, grandparents, friends. Maybe you're here this morning and God has not blessed yourself with children. But if you are an uncle or an aunt or a teacher in some way, if you're a part of this community here, by your very example, you have an influence on all of the covenant children here in this place. This is your duty too. It is our diligent duty. Yet it remains the parent's primary duty for shaping. And really that's what's behind that word train. It's also translated train up. The idea there is to give the very first taste. We think of a young child again. When our children get away from the bottle and they start to eat foods, we try to introduce them to a new food, and sometimes they tighten up their lips and they refuse. We want to just get that one taste in there because we know that they will like it. One taste to get them used to it. The point is, we are called to lay the groundwork with the very first instruction that they receive. Starting them out in the right direction. The idea here is of narrowing, hedging them in, setting them aside. Again, laying the groundwork with the very first instruction. Boys and girls, think of a tree, a tiny tree, a brand new tiny tree that is pliable. It bends very easy. You could break it if you wanted to. It doesn't have much strength. And oftentimes, when we plant that tree in the ground, we stake it up. We put stakes around it and maybe some string or some rope to straighten any deforming curves, to teach it, train it to grow straight. Really, that's what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 6 when he talks about bringing them up in the training and instruction or admonition of the Lord. Training there has the idea of shaping the will through discipline. Shaping the will through discipline, on the one hand, through having a discipline, being disciplined in life. That we shape them through discipline by teaching them to develop good habits, physical habits, eating correctly and exercising, spiritual habits, Devotions, prayer, worship. But also a shaping of the will through being disciplined for doing wrong. Learning that sin and disobedience has consequences that it sometimes hurts. Training, shaping of the will, that direction finder through discipline. And then Paul also talks about instruction or also translated admonition. Shaping the mind through teaching. imparting knowledge, giving knowledge that they might know what to believe and know how to live. And beloved, this shaping is to have an early start. Train a child, a young child, in the way that he should go. Another idea there is talking about the mouth, the entrance of something like a river from the very start. That's what's being impressed upon us, you see. Someone has said we may begin too late. We might begin too late, but we can never begin too early. And one illustration which is not very edifying, but I think it proves the point, is that of Hitler. Hitler knew the value and the benefit of getting to the youth early in life. There was that organization called Hitler's Youth. As I looked at that a little bit, taking children at 10 years old, maybe through the age of 18. He knew the value and the benefit of getting to them early in life to mold and to shape their minds and their wills in the way that He desired. Yet we know that His motive was evil. Now if we consider that tree analogy again. If that bend, if the curve in the trunk is not straightened when it is bendable, that as that tree grows tall and thick and strengthens and becomes solid, then it's too late to straighten it. A child may be too young to read, but he or she is not too young to learn to obey and to learn that disobedience has consequences. They are teachable. We see that with our children early. They pick things up early. Maybe you've had the experience where in a public place your child heard a stranger curse. or take God's name in vain. And quick as a flash, that child, your child, loudly in the hearing of that individual said, Hey, that's a bad word! Maybe to our embarrassment, although it ought to be to our praise and glory, they learn quickly. And of course, we know this proverb can be applied to life itself. If our children are trained at a young age to be diligent workers, faithful, hard-working people, they retain that in life. But here we are called to begin to shape them for eternity. From the very beginning. And therefore, the instruction of covenant youth with its diligent duty is to be carried out in the second place with its distinct direction. There is a distinct direction, beloved, in the way he should go. Now as parents, we are diligent. I trust each and every one of us has been diligent, even as uncles and aunts and friends with little children. We are diligent to teach our children to keep from physical danger. We teach them young, do not stick your finger in that outlet. Do not put your hand on a hot stove. Do not put a rope around your neck or a plastic bag over your face. Stay out of that busy street. We teach them all kinds of things for their physical well-being and safety. And most of the world, we know, deals with children as if they are born for this world, as if there is nothing more, nothing after this life. And they educate children for time. But God calls us, beloved, to instruct for eternity. To care not only for the child's physical well-being, but to care for the child's soul. Because there is an urgent need. The text says, train them in the way they should go, not in the way that they would go, Again, the very command to train implies that training is needed. There are two ways that lie before every child, and Proverbs clearly outlines them. The way of wisdom and the way of folly or foolishness. The way of righteousness or the way of wickedness. As Jesus says, the narrow way and the broad way. And sadly, what is not natural is the way that they should go. The pathway to heaven. But what is natural because of sin is the way that they would go. Headlong to ruin. Contrary to what we as parents want to believe, especially when the first child is born, they're not born perfect and good. They may have all their fingers and toes and they may have all of their vital organs, but our children are conceived and born in sin. And from the start, by nature, they are wired for the wrong way. There is a sharp curve, a sharp bend in each of those young trees. They are born with a will that desires only to do what's wrong, to only choose against God. And to apply that tree analogy again, if the crooked shoots of self-will and disobedience, as someone has said, are not cut off, their rapid growth and rapidly growing strength will greatly increase the future difficulty of bending them. I've heard people say, maybe you have two. Some say, well, I'm going to leave it up to my child what they want to believe when it comes to religion. When they're old enough, they can decide. They can study. They can decide for themselves. How dangerous that is, beloved. Because once their reason is formed, God can do anything we know, and he does oftentimes. But how hard it is to straighten them out at that point. There's an urgent need, and there's a proper way, the way that he should go. And the way that he should go, beloved, is the way that fits with God's design. As the Westminster Confession so beautifully says, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That proper way is not, first of all, the way of morality or honesty or integrity. All of that is desired, it's good, it's important, and by God's grace that flows from the proper way, one who is on the proper way. But the proper way is the way of God. A saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, teaching our children that there is God, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, that He is real, that He is perfect and holy and pure, that He hates sin, that He will punish it, that He has punished it in His Son for those who believe. Teaching them that there is a heaven, that there is a hell. Teaching them about walking with God by faith. Teaching them of God. That is the most important, the best instruction that we are called to give them. And the best instruction is not the best worldly education money can buy for a particular vocation, as important as that may seem, but the most important, the best instruction that we can give to our covenant youth is the instruction of salvation, of the forgiveness of all of our sins in Jesus Christ, of eternal life purchased only by the blood of Jesus for those who believe. And that best instruction comes only by the Word of God. We are not to be taught by talk show hosts and tabloids and how-to books and YouTube. None of that has eternity in view. Only this life, which for so many is the be-all and the end-all. But the Word of God. Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, From infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Only the Word of God has all that we need as we confess in the Belgic Confession for our salvation. All we need to know. And those who are brought to faith through the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit are equipped, they're trained as soldiers in the army of God to fight against Satan and his hosts. to fight against sin and temptation. They are trained and equipped to discern by the transformation of the Holy Spirit, to discern God's good and pleasing and perfect will. And that instruction from the Word of God is to fill all of our instruction, to be the foundation of all the instruction that our children receive. Because a true knowledge of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone helps us to see the truth and the usefulness of all instruction for both time and eternity. And beloved, with regard to this distinct direction, we have a precious privilege. As believers, we have a precious privilege and a great responsibility by which God uses us. This is a command to the covenant community. Train. I give you a task to perform. But not only to train with our lips in what we say, but to train with our lives. Lives that confirm our speech. Someone has said, if a child hears of godliness, but sees but wickedness, that is bringing bread with one hand and poison with the other. It is beckoning. It is motioning to heaven with one hand, but taking by the hand and leading in the way of destruction with the other hand. And beloved, who of us, who of us would take from a filthy, germ-filled hand even our most favorite food? If what one sees contradicts what they hear, many will believe what they see. Beloved, may our children not see a contradiction between what we teach them with our mouths and our activities that we participate in or the speech that we use in everyday life or the company that we keep. May they never see a contradiction. It is our responsibility and privilege to show them the joy of the Lord, the joy of that great salvation. To demonstrate for them the peace and contentment that we have in the Lord, whether we have little or much. Showing for them that we delight in pleasing God, even if it angers the world. Expressing for them the confidence that we have in God's promises, that all of His promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Very simply showing them a saving relationship of faith in Jesus Christ. Beloved, it is our precious privilege and great responsibility to train our children to be more concerned about what God thinks of them than about what the world thinks of them. And we know, too, that by the grace of God, a well-trained child often looks to the parent's godliness as a model picture to copy. Maybe that's your experience. You think of your parent or a grandparent or a teacher or someone who had an influence in your life who was faithful. and you have said, I hope I can be like them. I want to be like them. Faithful like them. But also this precious privilege and great responsibility is that by which God builds His church. We know that He builds His church as the Word of God goes forth and the Holy Spirit applies that Word to the hearts and lives of those who have never heard and transforms them and brings them to faith in Jesus Christ. But He builds His church, you see, primarily through believers and their seed. As he said to Abram, I will be a God to you and to your seed. Not exclusively, but primarily through believers and their seed. As believers teach their children, and their children teach their children, and on down through the generations. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1, I have been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. What a privilege. Through believers and their seed. That's why our children are not to be sacrificed to idols like the children of the wicked in the Old Testament. Our children are not to be sacrificed to the idols of our current day. They are not to be sacrificed to the influences and direction and philosophies and standards and goals of our society and our culture. They are to be sacrificed to God, dedicated to Him as Samuel was by Hannah. And then raised as his children, not trained primarily for the world, first of all, but as citizens of the kingdom of heaven who will live in this world for a time. And finally, the instruction of covenant youth has a divine development. We are called to train. That's a command by God. But it all depends on the good pleasure of God, doesn't it? And that divine development includes God's grace poured out upon parents as we strive to diligently be obedient to this command. On parents, and again, all the covenant communities, we strive to diligently be obedient to this command. It's a difficult task, sometimes carried out with much pain and sorrow and tears. But not just because the children are sinners, but because parents are sinners too. And praise God, beloved, that He works through our imperfect efforts. He works even through our failures to straighten the lives of our children. But even then, because we are sinners, beloved, we are called to train by demonstrating how a believer deals with sin. The covenant youth are to see that. How a believer deals with sin. Confessing and repenting of it. turning to the Lord Jesus Christ alone and finding hope and forgiveness and assurance only in Him. It's a difficult task which we need God's grace for. We can only do with the strength of the Holy Spirit, yet we hold on only with divine support. When He is old, He will not turn from it. This divine development includes God's increase. Paul says some plant, others water, but God gives the increase. God pours out His grace upon our covenant youth as He brings some to Himself by faith and He uses the training that He has called us to give. A foundation well laid. You see, without the principles of God and godliness, we leave a child helpless. And Satan is always ready and waiting to teach that lie which the corrupt heart is always ready to receive And that is why it is so dangerous to let a child decide about religion when they get older. The world sees religion, and specifically Christianity, as brainwashing. And they don't want their children to be brainwashed, but to think for themselves. But the truth is, we are already, in a way, brainwashed when we are born because of sin. But God uses parents and families in the covenant community to teach the truth of Jesus Christ. Yet again, it is a difficult reality that some fall away for a season, as Solomon did. But often, often we see that God brings them back to Himself as He impresses upon them and they remember the training and the faith that they received in their youth. There are some who never seem to embrace Jesus Christ by faith. At least not in the lifetime of their parents. And we are called to hope and to pray that God will use His means, including their childhood instruction, to bring them to Himself. But it is God's sovereignty, beloved, that reserves for Himself the plan and the time and the means. And our comfort, as I've said before, is that the Lord knows those who are His. Our call is to be diligent. As parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, as a covenant community, our call is to be diligent in training by word and action in the word of God and of Jesus Christ and in what is pleasing to Him. And our privilege, and that's what I believe this text really is pointing to as well, Our privilege is we are given the privilege to tell the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ a no greater, more important message or lesson than this. Our privilege is to be used by God in the brain to face His covenant youth. To be used by God to make the salvation of these children's souls the primary object of instruction. We are called to train them as baptized children. To teach Samuel, to teach all of our children what their baptism means. Boys and girls, you are to be taught by your parents and by the covenant community what God's promise means to you. That if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone for salvation, that just as water that you see sprinkled on a child, just as water washes away dirt, the blood of Jesus washes away all of your sins. Every single one of them. We are to train them, to pray for them, to teach them to pray, to instruct them in the Scriptures as the sole rule of faith and as a directory of their conduct for life. And boys and girls and young people, you are called to believe. Very simply, you are called to believe, to respond. as you are taught to grasp, to claim the promise of God given to you in your baptism, He has said, I have marked you, I have set you aside. Remember to whom you belong. You are called to believe and to profess your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our confidence, beloved, is in God alone. Never give up hope. Trust in God for the outcome. Leave it to Him and rejoice. We are called to rejoice as we see His Word come true in the lives of covenant youth. Beloved, God has given to us every reason to pass on to the good deposit of the gospel that He has given to us as we were taught. He's given us every reason to pass it on because He will use it to bring covenant children to faith in the Son He loves. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, as we bow before You, we do rejoice in Your Word. We rejoice in the truth of this, Your Word, we have considered this morning. And we must confess that sometimes it is difficult, but we trust in You. And help us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as both young and old, as those who do believe and those one day who will grow up and we pray become parents and teachers and uncles and aunts, that you would prepare each one to pass on the good deposit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord God, we pray that you would continue as you have promised to build your church and build her even through this congregation here in this place. as these, our children, grow and are instructed and nurtured, that each one of them, too, may have that hope of Jesus Christ for both now and forever. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name we pray. Amen.