Just as the man and woman have duties to one another as husband and wife and just as the husband and wife have individual duties to their children as mother and father, so also the children have an individual duty to their parents as offspring.

Sons and daughters are responsible for their OWN duty.

Parents are often blamed for the lifestyle and morality of their children. While the raising of the children does play a role in the outcome of the life of their child, it is not true to say that it is all the parent’s fault.

- It is never ALL the parent’s fault.

Personal responsibility among the individual family members is a key component that nits the family together so that they will be a Christ exalting family.

- The wife cannot make her husband do the right thing… all she can do is the right thing herself. Same with the husband.

- The father cannot MAKE his children’s decisions for them. All he can do is his best to raise them rightly. Same with the mother.

The children cannot do anything about their parent’s poor raising… the only thing that they can do is the right thing for them which according to the law of God is for them to honor their father and mother.

There comes a time when every member of the family has to take personal responsibility for their own role and position in the family.

We ALL have the responsibility because we all have a mother and a father, and just as they never stop being our father and mother… so also we never stop being their children.

According to Solomon, the greatest way to honor our father and mother is to listen to them and heed their instruction… no matter how much or how little instruction that they have given us.

- Solomon’s wisdom was hard learned.

- He did not practice what he preached for most of his life.

- That is why we can trust the lessons he gives us.

Not only where the proverbs inspired by the Holy Spirit… they were proven in the life of Solomon.

Most of us hold some fear of the Lord.

He knew us before he created us… we began as a thought in the mind of God.

- Then He created us. He knit us together according to His unique design in our mother’s wombs.

- He formed all of our days.

If you, in your heart desire to rebel against them out of envy for other sinners, then you are a fool.

- Not only are YOU a fool… but you you lead others to foolishness.

The person you hurt the most is your own parents.

- You hurt them, because by your lack of respect for the Lord… by your foolishness.

- You lead them to be cast down in their spirit so even they begin to despise the Lord.

- By your actions, you cause them to despair, and doubt God… A dangerous position.

Don't be a fool, be wise... obey, honor. In result you will make your parents glad and cause them to exult and praise God.

The commandment of God to honor your father and mother comes with a promise… IF you will honor them, then your life will be blessed.

- “Your hope will not be cut off…”

But the inverse is also true. If you despise them… if you rebel against them...

- You will “come to poverty and slumber will clothe you in rags.”

If you are not wise… if you will not “direct your heart in the way.”

If you allow beer… booze… and or drugs to control and direct your heart… POVERTY and RAGS are in your future.

- If not literal poverty and rags, then spiritual and moral poverty and rags.

This is what happens when you despise and reject sound instruction… especially sound instruction from your parents.

- You might think you are doing just fine in your rebellion… but it is coming.

- Not only are you going to break your parent’s hearts… you are going to destroy your own hope and that is going to affect your own family… your own husband/wife/or children.

You may be there already.

- Keep listening...

- There is hope for you and you will hear about it in just a few moments.

The hardest counseling situations I have ever encountered is with mothers and fathers who raised their children up in the Bible and sought to disciple them… and they left home and rebelled.

Illustrated: It is like this…

Mother and father are like a bank where each child has an account. For 18-25 years their child draws out of the account. They debit their parents love… their patience… their time… their energy… their wealth.

- It is an investment they are willing to make for the sake of God’s glory.

- Their children then are given the opportunity to pay it back with interest.

- To make their parents glad that they gave them life… that they gave them a future.

- When the time comes that their parents are old… the formula reverses.

- The parents make debits on their children’s love, and patience, and wealth, and time.

- And the children are glad to do it with gratitude, because they are only giving back what they have received… and the Lord is glorified even more.

This is God’s design for children and parents.

There are some cases, where the parents never see their investment repaid.

- They are left empty… unable to trust the very children that they worked so hard and sacrificed so much to raise.

- In this not only are the parents grieved… but God is grieved.

I am not saying that every parent is perfect.

- Not every parent has invested in their children the way they should.

In fact, there are many here who never received the love and support they needed from their parents and as a result, their own banks are low.

If you are here today it is because your parents made a choice to bring you into this world.

- They, at the very least, gave you a shot at living a fruitful life just by bringing you into this world.

- If that is all they gave you… then that is something.

You owe them the pleasure of seeing you succeed in a fruitful life unto the Lord.

If they weren’t the parents that they needed to be, it is all the more reason why you should live as a witness to them… and suffer for them… and be patient with them… and love them.

To all the parents with children who are in rebellion, have courage.

- Keep living out the gospel and give them a place to come home to.

To young Children, admonish your parents, be respectful to them and listen to their instruction.

- It is for the sake of God… for the sake of your future… for the sake of the debt you owe.

To grown children… some with parents that are alive and some with parents who have passed on… it is and always will be your role as a son or daughter to honor your parents and their instruction.

To the ones who feel that they have failed and have reached the point of having their “hope cut off”... the gospel tells how Christ is the restorer of hope… the healer of brokenness… the forgiver of sins.