The song of heaven worthy is the lamb that was slain. And it is not insignificant that he calls it a new song. We have sung today praise to the Lord. We praised him imperfectly as we are imperfect. But in that day we shall see him as he is. And our wonder shall know no bounds. Neither shall our singing ability. And we will sing to him a new song, a song that we have not been able to sing up until that time. What a day that will be. Amen. Turn, if you would, to Genesis chapters 1 and 2. We'll be in the very first part of Genesis the entire morning. I have a story that is too good to keep. I fought with myself all morning about telling it, but I've got to tell it. The last two Sunday nights, I preached out of First Corinthians, one out of chapter six and one out of chapter seven. Both of them were very explicit in nature because they deal with sexual matters and sexual matters in marriage. So we provided a separate service for the teenagers and the children whose parents chose that. So the children, many of them in teenage were upstairs and parents were down here. Well, there was a glitch in our computer system. So the first message, was not put on the internet and on the sermon audio until Monday, Saturday. And by Monday, it had been downloaded 120 times. And I said, that's all the teenagers that were up in that room up there that didn't get to hear it in church. So that just goes, there's a lesson there, parents. You probably don't know what your kids listen to online. even the preacher's message. And by the way, as of yesterday, it had been downloaded 160 times, so some probably listened more than once. I'm beginning today a series on the home. Some of you might say, well, that's kind of a strange thing to do on Anniversary Sunday. It is, I suppose, except for two reasons. The most overwhelming reason is I think this is what God wants me to preach, and that's the main reason. The other reason, to me, that makes absolute perfect sense is because over these 22 years, one of the things that God has allowed me to do is to preach on the home and marriage. If there was ever a day in which that needs to be preached, it's today. We are in a mess. The occasion of divorce is exactly the same in Christian homes, people who claim to be born again as it is in unsaved homes. Over the half of the children born in America are born to unwed parents. We are in a desperate situation, a situation at which our culture, our nation will not long exist. The fabric of a country is based on its morality. If you have read or studied your ancient history and look at the history of Rome, you will find that Rome became a great and powerful nation, the most powerful and wealthy nation in the history of the world up to that time. And it was not the barbarians that conquered Rome. It was a moral decay within Rome itself. And we are on the verge of collapse. Now, let me say that while I cannot do anything about that, I'm not in a position to change America. I'm in a position to do two things. First of all, I can change my own self and my own heart. And secondly, I can preach to you. and to share with you what God says. Now, in the next few weeks, some of the things I say are not gonna be easy to hear. The thing you have to ask yourself, as a preacher, I'm not unaware of how you respond to what I say. There are a couple subjects whenever I bring them up, and when I preach about them, I always look at your faces and I can see some of you are just really having a hard time. And some of you are just outright not agreeing with me. Now, that's the age we live in. It's called the postmodern age, when it says, well, your truth is not my truth, and you can believe what you wanna believe, I'll believe what I wanna believe. Well, that happens to be wrong, if we're talking about the Word of God. Now, let me warn you, as your pastor, as a preacher of the gospel, if I tell you the truth, and what I say lines up with the teaching of the Word of God, you had better pay attention. In Acts 17, 11, the name of this church came from that verse. It says, of the Bereans, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica. In that, they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. You are to come into the house of God to listen to the man of God with readiness of mind. Not as a skeptic, not as a critic, but as a ready listener. And then you are to search the scriptures to see if what I say is so. If I do not teach what the scripture says, if I am not true to the word of God, if I twist and turn it to my own desires, you have no reason to believe it and no reason to obey it. However, if I am honest and open, and I preach to you what the Word of God says then you have a responsibility to be obedient to the Word of God not to the preacher and to deny the Word of God or to resist the Word of God you're not resisting me I learned a long time ago I put myself out of that picture all I do is deliver a message and it is up to you to respond the way God intends you to respond and you will be held accountable and let me say this about things about marriage If you choose to ignore them, you're in deep trouble. I've thought often this week, somehow this verse has been on my mind because I guess there have been several situations that I've been thinking about this week where people are obviously going contrary to the scriptures and choosing to go their own way, choosing to not be obedient to what God says in a very clear and plain way. We're not talking about quite, we're talking about absolute things. And I go back to the principle that I enunciate so often because it's often on my mind, God resist the proud. Say that with me. God resist the proud. Let me say it this way. Pride is refusing to obey God. Thinking that your way is better than God's way. Thinking that what you believe and what you want to do is a better thing than what God tells you to do. That is pride in its final evidence if that is your position you're gonna have a hard life things are not going to be easy for you God has set himself and his government and his universe against the proud and you will run into yourself coming around the corner every day and life will become very very difficult indeed But the last part of that verse, that God gives grace to the humble, to those who know they don't have it figured out, who know that they are not perfect, who know that there are problems, and go to God and say, God, would you show me? Would you teach me from your word? Those people live within the grace of God. Now, grace has two meanings in the Greek. The same Greek word has two meanings, and here's what they are. Number one is God does things for us that we do not deserve. Lord willing, in three weeks, two weeks from next Sunday, week from next Sunday, I'm going to preach on recovering the prodigal. Needs to be preached. Recovering the prodigal. Some of you have wept, and I have wept for you and with you about your children and about your grandchildren. And we will discuss what God is doing about that. But you know, God will give grace. He gives us what we don't deserve. May I say this without false humility? This is the truth. If we, if God had to have good, perfect parents to raise good kids, there wouldn't be any perfect kids, any good kids. Amen. If you're raising kids and you've got good kids, that's the grace of God. Amen. You make good choices. That's the grace of God because you could be anywhere doing anything and your kids could too. So part of grace gives grace to humble as God doesn't treat us the way we deserve it. Boy, let me tell you something. I want to live there. I don't want to live on the other side of that equation. The second thing is the word grace in the New Testament is sometimes used for a divine enablement. The grace of giving, for example. Growing grace. It means that God allows us to do things we could not normally do. He will give us abilities we don't normally have. So God gives grace, ability to do things to those who are humble, to those who come to him and say, I'm not, I'm not able to do this, but I'm willing to do it. And I'm, I will obey you. You see here, let me, let me sum up all this series on the home in just a little couple sentences here. Either you will do it God's way and you will have his grace to help you. or you'll do it your own way and you'll fight against God all your life. Now I know that God in his grace sometimes in rebellious homes rescues children. I know that. I've seen some, I've known some. But most often the children follow in their parents' footsteps and most often a step or two down where their parents are. So I think a message on the prodigal is an important message. We're gonna talk about the preparation for the home, and next week we'll talk about the destruction of the home. There's a principle Bible interpretation called the law of first mention. By the way, there are rules called hermeneutics that we use for determining, interpreting scripture. It's not that you're just gonna pick up the book and, you know, make up something. One of the important concepts is that the first time something is mentioned in the Bible is often very significant. And of course we all know that the creation and the creation of man and woman and the home was established in the first three chapters of Genesis. So therefore there is the importance of this passage based on this concept the law first mentioned. In other words it is logical as we begin to talk about the home to go back to the first time God talks about the home. Because there are many things in this passage that will help us to understand how God intends a home to be operated. We have this summer, as far as I know, eight weddings of our young people. Four of them are here that I will do. So we have a lot of weddings going on. And I always do pre-marriage counseling. I worked with a pastor one time who said he had never did pre-marriage counseling because they don't listen. He says, I'll wait till they get in trouble and get in a mess and they'll come see me and then they'll listen. I happen to not be of that persuasion. I think we can avoid some of those issues. I mean, just because somebody else made a mistake doesn't mean you have to. And so we do our best and we enjoy those times to talk to the kids about marriage and talk about the basic kind of things we talk about in these messages. But there are four things that every couple in this church needs to know, every single person needs to know in case you're one day a couple. The first is this, the most important thing in your life is the support of a Bible-preaching church and caring people. The support of a Bible-preaching church and caring people. In 22 years, as you can imagine, we've had many, many people come to this church. Atlanta's that kind of city. People come and go. They get a job, they move, that's just kind of the way it is. And I often keep up with these people, often hear from them, some of them on Facebook, some of them just by letters and whatever, and I'm amazed sometimes at what happens. and to follow their lives with interest because at one time I was their shepherd. They were part of the flock over which God has given me the oversight and I am concerned about them and I know that many of them leave here for various reasons and they go off somewhere else and they don't have the support of a Bible preaching church. It doesn't take very long because of our fallen nature. Without Bible preaching, first thing you know, we're drifting off, as Brother Mike said this morning, we're off the pathway. Somehow we've gotten out of the pathway and now we're not where we ought to be. The problem is, when a family goes off the pathway, so do the children. And sometimes they never recover. And we've seen that time and time and time again. The second thing that every marriage needs is to accept our roles as God has designed them. We're gonna talk specifically about roles and to understand that God expects us to play our part, our role. And those roles are not debatable. They're not something we can argue with God about. God has established them and there's reason for it. And I could probably sit down with you in a room and take about three hours and explain what I have learned from the scriptures and from just my ministry about why the roles are done the way they are. But really the first thing you need to know is what are the roles? And every mom and every dad, every husband, every wife needs to understand the roles. You need to see what God, how God intended to work. Let me just say, go back to the instruction book. We men don't like instruction books much. I don't anyway. I was with my grandson the other day going somewhere and I told him, the first rule of being a man is you never ask for directions. That's a rule. Men just don't do that. You're wandering around all day and can't find where you're going, but you don't ask for directions because you're a man. That's what men do, right? Well, sometimes it's the way we think. We think, well, for me to go back and ask is stupid. Well, no, it's not. It's very smart, really. And you go back to the instruction book, and God tells us. He tells us what husbands ought to be, what wives ought to be, what children ought to be. It's all there. And by the way, first of all, God didn't play with us. Secondly, this is not a suggestion. It's a command. Every one of them are commands. And God didn't make mistakes. The third thing is we need to learn to submit to God's word in all things to do with our families. To just go into it and say, Lord, if you'll tell me what to do, if you'll show me, I'll do it. That's what we have to do. I suppose of all the things that I struggle with at times is the unwillingness of believers to follow the scriptures in personal matters. I mean, not even huge deals, but just normal things. I don't understand why people do that, but it just seems to be common that we just don't want to do it. And so we don't do it. So if we're going to have the kind of home we need, we need to just go into it saying, Lord, if you'll show me, I'll do it. I will submit myself to what God says. When God called young Samuel to be his servant, and Samuel served him for many, many, many years. After Samuel went through the thing with Eli and all that, he said, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. The Apostle Paul when he was called of God on the road to Damascus his first words were Lord. What do you want me to do? That should be our words. That should be our attitude And the fourth thing is we need to understand the tensions and temptations devised by Satan to destroy the home Satan hates the home. He hates Christian homes. He hates Godly people he does not want godly kids and I'm telling you but we're losing too many of our kids and and I'm going to preach on that this time, this series, but we're losing our kids and there's a reason we're losing our kids and it's we've ignored what the Bible says now you can do that, you have freedom to do that, God gave you free will but you'll do it to your own peril and one day you'll be weeping over your grandchildren so we need to understand the tensions, the temptations, what is it that causes these problems and at the end of this message I'll talk about that but I want you to see first of all that God when he put together the first home there was this is the model there wasn't anybody else this was it and so we look at what God did now if you look in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26 and God said let us make man in our image in our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so God created man in his own image In the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. He created man his own image. There were many reasons, I don't want to go into every detail obviously, but he created man to be able to make a decision. God has a will. He makes choices. So man was made with choices. Man was not made as a robot. Man was not given no opportunity to fail. He was given what we call a free will. He could make choices. But something else very important he could do, made in the image of God, like God, he can love. For like God, he can give himself, he can commit himself, just as God. For God so loved. And I think the best English word that describes that thing is the word commitment. God was committed to the world. because I say that because this word love is you know it is so tawdry and it has so many so often it's spelled L-U-S-T and that's not at all what the Bible talks about love so man was born with the ability to love look at chapter 2 and verse 7 and the Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul you ever ask yourself the question why God formed man out of the dust of the ground? The great poem by James Weldon Johnson called The Creation. It pictures God as kneeling by the river scooping up the clay and making man out of clay and blowing into his nostrils. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture. But I think that God made man from clay that he might have affinity for the world in which he was going to live. Adam was given dominion over the earth and therefore he was made out of the earth. My granddaughter loves to tell me that women are better than men, because men are made out of dirt. Well, that's true. So he was made out of the ground because he had an affinity for his home. He was made to feel comfortable. He was made from the very soil that he was to work. Man was given significant tasks. Verse 15, same chapter, and the Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress and to keep it. of the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. God put him in a beautiful place. He told him to tend the garden. He was given significant tasks. There's something about a man that needs to work. Somebody say amen. Man, that was about as pitiful thing I ever heard of. There's something about a man that needs to work. Boy, that was still pitiful. I'm not going to go there again. If you don't believe it, you're at a reprobate. tend the garden I mean it was a beautiful place but there was work to be done and God saw to it again go back to what what did God do this for he didn't do it for God he didn't even do it for the garden he could come down there himself and tend to the garden by the word of his mouth he'd wanted to but he knew that man needed a task he was given a job of replenishing the earth filling the earth but his main job was living in obedience to God. That was his main job. It says, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. The greatest responsibility that man has is to be obedient to God. The second greatest responsibility is to lead his family. and neither one of those responsibilities are easy but man is to be obedient to God man is to love God that's his first responsibility you see when God put restriction on man now you think of this man was given a free will he was able to decide that's important but here's the question would he obey God or not? only one restriction would he obey God or not? Would he do what God said or would he not? That was man's choice. It is no accident that's where he was tempted. That is where the problem came, right there. So next week when we talk about the challenge of the home or the destruction of the home, we'll talk about the temptation. How did it happen? What was important about it? By the way, in Romans it says this, as in Adam all died, So in Christ you'll all be made alive. Let me ask you a question. Why didn't it say as in Eve all died? You see what I'm saying? Didn't Eve take the apple first or whatever the fruit was? She did. But in Adam all died. Would Adam obey God? This is where he was tested at the point of leadership. Here's the other question. I think by any Any observation of this next passage where the woman was created, using our terminology and our perspective, did Adam love Eve? Did he? Of course he did. This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. I mean, he loved her. So here's the question. Did he love God more than he loved Eve? Would he rather please God or please Eve? So it is not accidental that he was tempted at that point, that that was a place of testing right there. Would he obey God in spite of what Eve did? 1 Timothy 2.14 says, and Adam was not deceived. The woman being in transgression, being deceived, the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Adam had a personal relationship with God. Chapter 3, it says, God came and walked with Adam in the cool of the day. What a marvelous thing that would be. We talk often around here about our relationship with God and our fellowship with God. And I think that God has put in some of our hearts a hunger for God. David said, as the heart, the young deer, panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Some of us want to be close to God. Can you imagine every day in the cool of the day God coming down himself and walking with man and talking with man? What a marvelous thing. And then we go to the book of the Revelation and we say, and God himself shall be with them. And he shall be their God and they shall be his people. And God will wipe away all tears. Hallelujah. A personal relationship with God. Adam was made to understand his need. This is a cute story, it really is. I must hurry, time's getting away. But let me just say this. Look at it says, look in verse 19, chapter two. Well, at verse 18 you hear that. The Lord said, it is not good that man should live alone. Now understand, God made the light and he said it was. God made the animals, he said that is. God made the water and he said that is. He came to man, it is not. it's not good now understand God makes all things well but he made man with a need and he says it's not good that man should live alone and God not only gave man a need but he also provided the answer God knows you're a sinner God knows that you want to stray away from him God understands that but God also provides an answer God provides a solution So he said it's not good. So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every fowl of the air, and brought them into Adam to see what he would call them. Adam was no mumbling caveman. He was a brilliant man. He named all the animals himself. And if you think about why God did that, look at the progression here. And so whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all the cattle and the fowl of the air and every beast upon the field. But for Adam, There was not found and help meet for him and helper suitable for him. God had to make Adam realize he needed somebody else. I mean, he, all the animals, they came by and they'd say, I'm that one named that one, that one. And he said, but where's my other, other part, where's the one that matches me? Nobody looks like me. He never thought the monkey was his partner. He didn't come from a monkey, by the way. He came from an everlasting God. You may know your authors came from monkeys, but that's your problem. But God made man out of the dust of the ground. He didn't make him out of a monkey or out of the seawater. It takes a whole lot more faith to believe that than to believe what God does, isn't it? So he brings them to Adam, and Adam looks at every one of them, and he didn't find a single one of them that suits him, not a one. they were all nice, he named them all but nobody sued him so God showed Adam his need, here's what his need was, his need was a helper a helper, a help meet means a helper that is suitable or someone to help him, someone designed to be his helper marriage should be two people who work together to accomplish what God has called you to do as a couple. A wife, a woman, is to be the helper she is created to be that other part. There is no subjugation in the sense of being inferior here. It's position, it is role. We work together to accomplish a purpose and the woman's purpose was to be a helper suitable for him. Adam did not need a leader. For his leader was... For his leader was... See, God didn't give woman to Adam to be his leader. He already had a leader. And by the way, isn't that where he was tested? His leader was God. Then he brought Eve and made him out of Adam's rib. And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept and took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh. And the rib which the Lord God had made was taken out of man, made he a woman and brought her to man. Look what he says. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She used to be called woman because she was taken out of man. Ephesians 5 says this, Ephesians 5, 28, so ought men, now listen to this, this is a New Testament book of Ephesians, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. So this whole picture from Genesis is repeated again when he talks about marriage in the New Testament. So there was a natural affinity of Adam for Eve. She came from him. She was called Eve because she was taken from him. Those of us who've seen our children, there's nothing like that. Nothing to prepare you for that. When you look down at that life that was really you and your wife, and you see that one and you go, That is a miracle. Amen. It's amazing. It's something you can't describe, something you can't explain to anybody, but there's this, this is part of me. This is the two of us together. There's this person who's now born who has a soul who will live forever that came from us. And that very same thing is what Adam said when he saw Eve, he was astounded at her. By the way, the Hebrew translated, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh means, wow, this is the only one for me. Of course she was. Boy, you're dead. I'm like, Mike, that was funny, but laugh. Eve was prepared. As we said, Eve was made from man's rib. Being formed from Adam's body gave her a natural affinity for Adam. Someone said, and I think it's a good one, one was not taken from man's head that she might rule over him, or taken from his feet that he might walk on her, but she was taken under his arm that she might be protected by him, and close to his heart that she might be loved by him. But God doesn't make any mistakes. And since there was no time to get acquainted or no development of love, this had to be instantaneous, and suddenly she realized she came out of man. There was an affinity for him. She came from Him, part of Him, and suddenly now she feels that affinity. She was presented to man. Verse 22 says, and God brought her unto man. If you're single, don't go out looking. Somebody want to say amen? Don't go out looking. Let God bring to you the person. Some of you tried the other way, haven't you? Disaster. I'm telling you what, I have seen train wrecks and I just shudder when I hear somebody talk. And they talk about, I'm going to go out and find somebody. Well, good luck with that. God brought her. Let me ask you a question. Is God able to do that? Is this crazy? Is this a fairy tale? No. And she brought her to man. God provided man's need. And Adam reacted the way he should. Here was the glue that held their marriage together. Man's need, part of the glue. He needed somebody. He knew it. God knew it. The woman knew it. That's part of what kept them together. He used physical attraction. She was beautiful. She was everything he dreamed of. All those animals that came by, none of them worked, but this one did. and she knew there was that attraction to her and this was God's plan and God's plan works so that's what's supposed to happen she shared man's responsibilities she was to tend the garden, she was to replenish the earth, she was to live in obedience with God that was part of her job she was going to do what man does she was going to help him do what man was responsible to do therefore tending the garden was part of that replenishing the earth was part of that Living obedience to God. From Adam she was given security. What does a woman need? Security. Look if you would at chapter 2 verse 23. This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh. Security. I mean, she wasn't worried that Adam was going to leave. First of all, there was no place for him to go. She was the only one around. But she had security. She knew that he loved her and that she was the only one and she was perfectly satisfied with that. God gave her the security that she needed. She was unspoiled by sin. It says in verse number 25, and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. If you want an interesting study, if you're interested and can do it, look at the study of nakedness and sin. There's a connection. Let me just summarize. The more wicked a nation becomes, the less modest they are. The more sinful a person's heart, the less they dress modestly, the more nakedness they allow and participate in. Then here's the question, and I'm closing. Why is married life at times so hard? If God laid out the plan, if God prepared it, why is it so hard? Why are there things that challenge us? Why are there things that cause us to not have the right atmosphere in our homes? Instead of loving and supporting and helping and forgiving, there's this anger and bitterness and why? Why do conflicts arise? If two people were perfect and living together in love and forgiveness, there'd be no conflicts. Well, we use the word depravity. Now, if you'll all wake up, I'll be through in five minutes. I want you to get what I'm gonna say. There we go. Everybody, that's good. Some of you were asleep. Just wake up. Depravity. Let me show you what depravity is. Depravity, the word, is not in the Bible, but the description is. It does not mean that man is as wicked as he can be. or that he participates in every kind of sin. But it does mean that sin has permeated every part of man. That there's not a part of man that has not been touched by sin. Now, Adam and Eve did not have that problem. They had not sinned, but we have. And sin has touched us in remarkable ways. Our mind. Now this is why it's important, this is what I'm going to say to you. This is important. Why do we struggle? Why do our homes have so much problem? Number one, our mind is bombarded with false ideas. I mean a lot of what our young people are chasing after and leaving the Lord to find is a myth. It's a fantasy. It's a bubble. It doesn't exist. Pornography is based on something that doesn't even exist. and yet thousands of men, church men follow off after that thinking they're going to find something there our minds are constantly bombarded we see things on television or somewhere else that shows people sleeping around and doing all kinds of wicked things they drink and they carry on their lives are wonderful nothing ever happens that is not reality Truth is constantly challenged by error. You try to live right, you find out if other people are happy about that. You find out if you're a teenager going to high school and you're trying to live right, you find that people thrill with that. See what they say about you. You're a single young man, single young woman, you make up your mind to do right. See how happy that makes people. Why? Because we are constantly challenged by sin, always. The ability to think through and to sort out conflicting ideas seems impossible because there's so much coming out of someone says like drinking water out of a fire hose. We're so bombarded with so much stuff and so much of it is false that we have a hard time sorting it through. Where do I draw the line? What do I watch or don't watch? Where do I go or don't go? It just seems impossible. There's just so much. Well, the place to go is the instruction book. The place not to go is any place that teaches something contrary to the instruction book. That's simple and by the way if you have doubt take the high road. You know if there is black and if there is white and the black is bad and the white is good where do people make most of their mistakes? In the gray. This isn't too bad. You know, emotions. Our mind is affected by sin, so are our emotions. Man is designed to love and care for his wife, is occupied with pleasing himself. And may I say, a wife who is designed to love and please her husband is occupied with pleasing herself. So here are two people living in the same house whose main desire is to please themselves. How's that working out for you? Do you know, has it dawned on you yet that nobody is as concerned about you as you are? That nobody really, you know, let me tell you why you ought not spoil your kids. You have little kids and at home you give them everything they want, they scream and cry and get what they want, you let them do what they please. Can I use one word that'll correct that? School. Because the teacher doesn't care what they want. the teacher doesn't want them to throw a tantrum they will not get what they want if they throw a tantrum you see because here's the basic problem we are all what we want so here are people living under the same house under the same roof whose emotions are messed up they're supposed to be giving and loving and forgiving instead of that they're selfish well we know how that happens and what that does the woman is designed to thrive on security. She feels abandoned, unappreciated, and held down. Now, and Gloria Steinem has told you what you should be, and that ain't it. And it's hard to get excited about serving God when you have to do cooking and cleaning and all that stuff, when your husband squeezes the toothpaste from the bottom, what a terrible thing. And maybe this is the most important part of emotion. Popular culture has reduced love to a feeling. You ever heard the term falling in love? Find that in the Bible for me. I just fell in love. I couldn't help it. I just fell in love. Show me that in the Bible. May I say to you, the Bible is very clear. We choose whom we love. Someone says to me, I don't love my husband anymore. I ask him, who do you love? Good question, right? You have chosen not to love your husband. You have chosen not to love your wife. That's a fact. That's what God says. So our popular culture has made love a feeling. Therefore, if the feeling goes away, so does the marriage. I don't love him anymore. I'm not going to live this way the rest of my life. All those terms I've heard a thousand times. By the way, just so you know, the fruit of the Spirit is You don't know what it is? Let me say it again. The fruit of the Spirit is, which means if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you love. Which means if you're filled with yourself, you might not. Life-altering decisions are based on feelings, not on God's truth. Boy, could we stay there a while, huh? The most important decisions of your life are based on how you feel. Because here's what you're told. Here's what you're told. Look in your own heart. Look in your heart. The Bible says the heart is deceitful. Did you get the word? It is what? Deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Proverbs says there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Look in your heart. come on just do what your heart tells you to do oh my goodness all we like sheep if my heart tells me go astray if I do that I'm in trouble but we've been taught and told by popular culture and by education and all the things you watch and see and read Do what feels right. Does it feel right to you? Where do you find that in the Bible? Life, all of your sins are based on feelings, not on God's truth and the will. Our will is perverted by sin. We have turned aside from God's truth by false ideas and twisted emotions. Man chooses his own way, rejecting God's plan for the home and seeking to make his own way as it pleases him. I'll decide. I'm the captain of my own ship. I'll chart my way. Broad is the way, and many there be that find it that lead to destruction. And narrow is the gate, and few there be that find it that live under life. You say, I choose my way, okay. But remember, God resists the proud, If you think that you're wiser than God, that your plan is better than God's plan, you have a real problem with pride. Solution. Turn back to God. Turn back to God's word. Find the answer in the biblical models. Go back and say, let's look at this again. Let's see where I went wrong. Let's try to get this fixed. If you are what you should be, you'll probably, some of you will probably have some family meetings in the next few weeks. You'll sit down with your kids and you'll confess your sin. You'll talk to your wife alone and confess some of the things that have messed you up. Turn back to God. Find answers. Submission to God's plan all things as true and right. We have to come to the word of God saying, God, you're right. Your declaration is eternally conformed to reality. What you say is right. And then you must be willing to set aside how I feel and follow God's plan. God prepared Adam and Eve for the home. He prepared it beautifully, romantically, effectively, efficiently, and the home failed. The first son was a murderer. His offspring became so wicked that God had to destroy the entire earth except for Noah and his family. Didn't work out too well. They were driven out of that garden where God had put them, that beautiful perfect place where everything was perfect. They were driven out of that garden. And man who was given dominion over the land and over the animals and everything else was now afraid of the animals and the thorns and thistles grew up in the corn he was trying to grow and the woman in sorrow bore children oh my Cain what a heartbreak what happened? well God did it right and man did it wrong and we know how that turned out don't we? So next, we're going to take a careful look at this next part about what happened. What were the steps? Because Satan's devices haven't changed. And the way this happened in Genesis is the model for us to say, well, what happened? Look at these people. What happened to their marriage? What happened to their family? Well, here's what it is, and we'll talk about it next time. Let's pray, please. Thank you, Father, for your word. Without it, we would be left to ourselves to imagine vain things. And I pray that you would do a great work. Lord, we're embarking on a two-month series to help us and our families and our homes, and I pray that you would guide me as the preacher to understand your word, to study diligently, to prepare my own heart and mind. You'd prepare your people to listen. Prepare us to be obedient to you in all things. Father, we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing a couple of stanzas of a song. 389, as you're all on the altar, I don't know what my God might lead you to do. Maybe some are here to prepare today to join our fellowship. Some may just want to come and pray. There's an altar here for you to pray if you like. If you want somebody to pray with you or talk with you, if you'll see me, please, I'll make sure that happens. Some of you may not be saved and would like to trust Christ. Whatever you need, we'd be glad to help you. I'm going to be at the front, so you come if you need to come.