We are happy to have finishing out, closing out our conference today, someone that is probably very well known to most or all of you, and that is Todd Friel, author, evangelist, American Radio, and television host, Wretched Radio. He began that ministry seven years ago, producing Wretched TV and Radio in conjunction with Ray Comfort. And I'm sure many of you are here today because you listen to his broadcasts on Sirius Satellite Radio on a regular basis. He was originally with the Way of the Master Radio and then became Wretched Radio. And it's a great ministry to the church. I know that it's something that many of you listen to either going to work, coming back from work, or during work. So it's an encouragement to you throughout the day. And it is also really a broadcast of the good news out in a very gloomy and in a very negative world today. And so we are happy to have Todd here. He has a very unique speaking style. He's a very riveting speaker, a very charismatic speaker in a good way. And so let's welcome Todd to the podium this morning. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. You almost called me charismatic. Yes, I did. Good morning, my charismatic friends, if you're here. It's nice to be here at the Reforming Families Conference with Ken Ham and four guys who apparently don't have a first name. We know, I guess, how it works here at Answers in Genesis. Ken isn't here, is he? Let me just give you a little gossip on Ken Ham, if you don't mind. The first time that I met Ken, I believe I was in West Virginia, if I'm not mistaken, and I was at a conference, and Ken was sitting right there, which is not a pleasant thing to have to speak in front of Ken Ham. And I had discovered a quote. I believe it was based on a sermon from the book of Ezekiel. uh... from a guy named thomas chalmers and it was such a magnificent quote that god does not desire to go to war with you he would burn you up like thorns thrown into the fire that is not what he desires he desires to make peace with you this day turn to the lord and it was such a great quote and so this is how i set it up you gotta listen to this quote man it's so amazing thomas chalmers and you can trust this guy Because he's, you know, he's like a Puritan and he's dead and he can't say anything now that would be heretical that would cause you to go, oops, I shouldn't have quoted that guy. This is just amazing with Ken Hampsoning right there. For those of you who don't know, Thomas Chalmers is the inventor of the gap theory. And there's Ken Ham the whole time. And I can't figure out why he's like wiggling and squiggling. And now that was probably, it had to have been 10 years ago. So every time I see Ken, without fail, he'll toss it in somehow. Well, Todd, it's been a long gap since I've seen you. That's Ken Ham. And as long as I'm gossiping about Ken, let me just give, this will be like entertainment tonight. Let me tell you more about Ken Ham. Um, you get to see him and he's kind of, he's, he kind of comes across like the stoic guy, right? He is not, he is a total and complete goof. He is a joker and he is one of the sweetest men that you will ever meet. And he is one of the kindest men you will ever meet. We, uh, We went to the ARC yesterday. While y'all were here, we went to the ARC. We snuck it in. And I let Ken know, so when I got there, he had called ahead to let them know at the ticket office I was there so they could charge us double. That's Ken Ham. He's that... Actually, he's just the opposite of that. A number of... Well, this is kind of inside information, but a number of months ago, called him up and I said, Ken, we got an issue. We don't know what to do with this. All right. That was it. All right Within minutes his staff from answers in Genesis had contacted us and I'll just tell you this They have they have helped us profoundly with our ministry They don't send a bill He just does it and I told somebody else who was in ministry about this and he went he did that for you, too That's the real Ken Ham. And so it's a joy here even though he gets a first name and the rest of us are just like Cher or Elvis. Have a last name. Thank you for letting me be here this morning. Ryan, who knew you could sing? Wow, am I glad God didn't give me a voice like that because I'd be singing this presentation. I would constantly, God saw fit. No, you can't handle a good voice. But thank you for letting me be here, especially the last session when you're tired, you're thinking about hitting the road and you're hungry. So thanks, Ryan. It's great to be here. And thank you for being here too. So we're from India. We've got a missionary as far away as in India. Pastor from where, what? Indianapolis. That's pretty close. Far, if you walked. So thank you to all of you for being here and for letting me close out this session with you. And in the spirit of Ken Ham, let me talk about our resources for the next 30 minutes. Because that's what Ken usually... Is he here? Is Ken here? I actually do want to share with you the resources that they put out on the table. simply because I'm going to be actually talking about these things that we're going to be working through today. This is the presentation that I gave, I think it's the first Answers in Genesis conference that I was ever involved in. It's called The Homosexual War. And I learned so much at that particular conference, and maybe this is a word of encouragement to you if you're here today. When I went to this conference, I went, I'm going to an Answers in Genesis conference. This is the cream of the Christian crop. Nobody has problems at this conference. All of the families, they're buttoned down. Everything is going great. I spoke about how we Christians should be engaging with people who have same-sex attractions, and I was shocked when it was done. The number of people who queued up to say, my son, my brother, my child, my parent, struggling with this issue and I was so taken by that and then I started speaking at homeschool conferences on the subject we're going to talk about today and I was shocked at the number of people at homeschool conventions and some of you are, I know, because you've got tons of kids and that's how we know you're here, by the way. It's not fun speaking at a homeschool convention with only three children. You almost feel ashamed. So I'm at the homeschool. Sorry, I only have three children, my folk river friends. talking to the homeschool folks after the convention where everything is supposed to look look cool and groovy and here's the truth of the matter Life is a sinful mess. Don't be deceived by Facebook. Don't be deceived even as you come to this conference thinking, look at everybody, their kids sat still the entire time and mine are running around like they need Ritalin, which you shouldn't do, just as an aside. But my kids, they're just terrible. And these kids, look at how well-behaved. Don't be deceived. Every home is contaminated with a problem called sin. yours is not the only one. Your home, my home, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today. So let's get to it, shall we? Because it's great to have a plan for your family, to deal with life issues. And it's good in your marriage to get all kinds of tips about how to be more romantic or how to communicate better, and that's all fine and good. But if you don't have a sin battle plan, We just don't have a chance. I mean, that's the core. Communication skills, important. Intimacy tips, have a date night, all of those things, that's great information. But let me suggest to you the key issue in every home, pagan or Christian, is the issue of sin. And if we don't diagnose our problems and our challenges and our struggles rightly, we're never gonna be on the right side of joy. So let's see in our closing session if we can get there together. How do we do that? How do we have joy in our home? And I wanna start, believe it or not, by talking about this book. This is Jesus Unmasked. It is a study of typology, Jesus in the Old Testament. Where do we see Jesus? And why do I wanna start by talking about this? Think of it like this. If you were the manager of a McDonald's, and a teenager came to work for you, and you thought that he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and this teenager, you gave him all the training, you gave him the manual, the instruction, and this kid, all he wanted to do was run out into the parking lot and wash people's windows. Now, that's a good thing, washing windows, but it's not what you do there. What do you do at McDonald's? You make burgers, you make fries, you sell cokes. That's what you do. And while that activity is perfectly swell, if that kid doesn't get on the same page, it's going to be a hash. We need to be on the same page with God. What is God doing? What is God trying to do in this world, and what is he trying to do in your home? And I want to establish this, even at the risk of just pummeling this into our noggins this morning, God is about one thing. Period. And if we're not on the same page, we're going to be making a hash of it far worse than the kid at McDonald's. We can be busy with activities, volunteering at church, all good. We can be serving our families in wonderful ways. But if we are not about the same thing that God is about, we're not on the same page. And it is not going to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. What does God want to accomplish in the world and in your home? One thing. that Jesus Christ would be looked to, believed, and receive preeminence. In other words, God is about the gospel. That's it. Ephesians 2 tells us that God created the world so that he could create perfect people he knew would sin, make no mistake about it, so that what? He could send forth a savior so that he could be seen and his attributes of mercy and grace and loving kindness could be put on display. And that is what he has been about. Consider that God has been preaching that message, not starting in Matthew 1, but back in the Old Testament. Starting, I would argue, with you in Genesis 1.1. Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, wait a second, where's Jesus there? Well, he's not there specifically and explicitly yet, but he's there in John 1.1. Do you hear the hearkening? In the beginning, God, in the beginning was the Word. God said, let there be light. but there was no sun, moon, or stars until day four. So what was illuminating the planet? I would suggest to you, if you take a look at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation, what do you see? You see a garden, you see a river, you see two trees, and it is illuminated by what? The light who is The Lamb, I would suggest to you, when God said, let there be light, it was the Son of God, the light of the world, who was illuminating the planet, the second person of the Trinitarian Godhead on display in the beginning. but he's there immediately in a promise. You know the story, Adam and Eve, they sin. And what is the immediate response of God? What do we see? A pattern in the Bible. Sin, salvation, right away, a promise that this serpent is going to have his head crushed. But the one who crushes the head is gonna have his heel bruised. The question of course is, who is that seed? I'm sure that's what Adam and Eve wanted to know. It's certain. We need the rescuer. We know we were walking unashamed and now we're trying to cover up our own nakedness by our own works. And there's another promise of the seed. No, no, no. What was the first shedding of blood in the garden? It was by God himself. The first animal that was slain was by God himself. Why? They were naked. They knew it. They tried to cover up their own shame. God killed an animal. I suspect it was a lamb, but that's just a guess. Why? Because God had to cover their shame. What was that? It was an echo of the gospel. It was Jesus in the Old Testament. and we see the pattern of blood being shed for the forgiveness of sins, the covering really of sins, all throughout the Old Testament. It is this scarlet thread that makes its way throughout the Old Testament. Fast forward, if you will, to the story of Abraham and Isaac. This story, I would love to visit a Jewish temple sometime to hear a Jewish rabbi preach on the story of Abraham and the sacrificing of Isaac. What do you do with that? What do you do with that? What was that anyway? Consider the details. God commands Abraham to kill his only beloved son. And so they march up a hill, the son having to carry the wood for the sacrifice. And he asked, but father, where's the lamb for the sacrifice? And Abraham responds and says, God will provide. And as Abraham goes to sacrifice his only beloved son on Mount Moriah, which is almost certainly the crucifixion hill of Jesus Christ, God stops him. The sacrifice of an almost, an almost sacrifice of a man's beloved son. And what do we see in the details of Genesis? And there was in the thicket not a lamb but a ram, as if to suspend the tension that God hasn't provided the lamb yet. But the next time we visit this hill, we see an only beloved son carrying his wood to the sacrifice. And he was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What is that story about? It's about the gospel. It is about Jesus Christ. Why? Because that is what God has been about from the beginning. The gospel, forgiveness, the issue is righteousness. And God has been proclaiming that message persistently and organizing every detail in the universe to point toward Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. That's what we see, is it not, at Passover? That the death angel would pass over. How? Why? What were the details? That a family would have an unblemished lamb live with the family for a short amount of time. And then that lamb would be killed Blood would be put over the door. So what do we see? We see blood, a lamb sacrifice, and a door. Jesus is our Passover lamb. He was actually sacrificed. It was Passover week. He was in every single detail. Furthermore, blood and the door, what's the relationship? I think that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, is the door through whom salvation comes. Furthermore, where's the big boat? There it is, right there, the ark, one door, one door, and a very big boat. The fire marshal today would not let that go. It would be far more convenient to have multiple doors for the loading of all of the animals. Why one door? Because Jesus Christ is the door, the one that we must enter into for what? Salvation. And what does Peter call Jesus Christ? The ark of our salvation. What was that boat about? It was pointing to Jesus. We were just talking about this in the lobby. Have you been there? It's it's unbelievable and I was thinking about for let's say 120 years the preacher of righteousness Salvation Salvation is there and how many takers did he get none and the entire time God was preaching the gospel you need to be rescued from the wrath that is to come why because God is about The gospel! What were the lamb sacrifices in the tabernacle? Pointing to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Read Isaiah 53. What do you read about a man so disfigured you couldn't tell he was a human being? like a lamb led to the slaughter. He kept his mouth closed. We thought it was for his sins, but it was actually for the sins of his people. What was going on with this imagery? It was pointing toward the Lamb of God. The entire Old Testament is loaded with pointers to Jesus. Why? Because that's what God is doing. Consider the Sabbath, just for a moment. the persistent proclamation of God pointing to Jesus Christ. Why do we have a Sabbath? In Middle Eastern culture, you didn't work five days a week or six days a week. You worked seven days a week. And yet, what do we see right away? God resting at the creation week. And we don't really hear about that resting. And by the way, God was not exhausted and he wasn't taking a break. He wasn't a part of a union. God was doing what? The culmination. That's what we see in the creation week. Do we not? that it's getting more sophisticated and it's becoming more complex. And we like to think the culmination, of course, was the creation week was. We image bears, because that's where it seems to end up. It's a it's a Zenith. It's a J curve to the seventh day. God resting and doing what? Enjoying himself. enjoying his work. That's what he was doing. That's what was pointing toward God, not the creation, but the one who created it. So now we don't hear a thing about this seventh day until what the laws of Moses come. Don't forget, if you're young, this will help you tremendously. We have two major covenants in the Old Testament. You've got the Abrahamic covenant, a promise of a land, Israel, a nation, the Jewish people, and a singular seed hearkening back to Genesis chapter 3. A seed's coming, and it's going to come out of these people. These Jewish people, they're going to be the nation from which that seed comes. Then comes later the laws of Moses, what we consider the old covenant. That's the Abrahamic covenant and you've got the old covenant. Why all those laws? Why all those rules? Why the dietary? Why all the peculiar laws? Because God wanted a peculiar set apart people. out of whom the Messiah would come. And inside of that covenant we see the laws, we see the lamb sacrifices, we see the rules, and we see something about a Sabbath and a seventh-day rest. Why? Why would God want his people to rest? I think he was preaching the gospel. Six days of back-breaking labor. And then a taste of rest, back to work you go. I'm exhausted after six, a little taste of rest, back to work you go. Now, what was going on between the time that that commandment was given in the time of Jesus? You had busy rabbis that were creating columns of laws, 39 of them for you to keep the Sabbath. For instance, on the Sabbath, you couldn't pull out your chair from the table. Why? Because if you drag the leg in the dirt, You could be causing a little bit of a rut or a furrow, and that's farming, and that's work, so don't do it. Don't ride a donkey. Why? Not because riding on a donkey is work per se, you just bop along, but if you get tempted to grab a switch off of a tree to whip the donkey, that's work. Don't do that. You're violating the Sabbath. had laws about mendicants, poor people, how you were to help a poor person. You could not give something out of your window because that's work, but it was okay if the poor person reached in and you put it in his hand. You could only write so many letters. What in the world was going on? They were trying to keep Sabbath and by the time Jesus arrived the Sabbath laws were pretty much the centerpiece of the Jewish religion. How do I know you're a good Jew? You keep the Sabbath. Have you ever wondered why we see so many combative encounters with the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath? It's almost, I kid you, it's almost as if Jesus is going, be to the Pharisees each time he heals somebody. And instead of rejoicing, they come at him. What are you doing on the Sabbath day? And what does Jesus announce to them? I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Who does the author of Hebrews say is our Sabbath rest? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. When you repent and put your trust into the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world every single second of every single day is a Sabbath rest. You don't have to wait till Sunday. Right now, I'm resting from my works and I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our Sabbath rest. And God was preaching that rest every single week. for centuries. Why? Because God is about the gospel. God is about Jesus Christ, putting Him on display, that sinners might run to Him and be saved, so that at the end of time, God will gather His elect, the church, 1 Corinthians 15. He will take this gift, you and me. You want to know your future? God's gonna take you and present you to the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and say, this is for you, son. And Jesus takes that gift, turns it back to the father and says, no, father, this is for you, that you might be all in all. And then eternity begins. And what do we do? We spend time in a city where the light is the lamb, praising him for being such an amazing savior. That's what God is doing. Here's my question for you. My dear friend, what's your home about? What is your home about? What are you doing every day? And please note every single word that I'm about to say, I preach to myself constantly. If God is about the gospel, If God is about bringing glory to himself for the redemptive work of his son, what are our homes about? And if you say that's just a bit of a stretch too far, let me take you to the book of Ephesians again. What do we see in Ephesians 1? The gospel. Ephesians chapter 2? The gospel. What do we see in Ephesians chapter 3? The gospel. What do we see in Ephesians chapter 4? We see the relationship of God and his people, the church. What do we see in Ephesians chapter 5? We see husband and wife being about what? What's husband and wife about? The gospel. Sir, you play the role of Jesus. Madam, you play the role of the church. Our marriage is a cosmic play. The world should be able to look into our windows and go, that's what the gospel is. See how he loves, see how she loves. Our marriage is a picture of The gospel, that is what our homes must be about. Because if we're not about the gospel in our homes, we're just doing fine things, but we're not about God's business. God wants to save your child. Can I just put it this bluntly? God doesn't care if your kid learns how to hold his silverware correctly and goes to hell. Do any of us care if our child gets a full-ride scholarship to pick your favorite Bob Jones University, Purdue, pick it, whatever it is. But he runs there, abandons the faith, backsliding, indicating he never slid forward in the first place, dies and goes to hell. Do we care? Do we care? Who cares if our children sit still at a conference, but the whole time they hate Jesus? God doesn't want to create more moralists. He wants to create people who love Him, and that's our job, Mom and Dad. And if we are not working toward the same thing that God is working toward, we're not gonna have joy in our home. That's where we're gonna enter now. It's called reset for parents. Because I had to reset. That's what I had to do. I got kids, I got three of them, and they're all grown now. And I gotta tell you something, I've made a million mistakes more than you have if your kids are younger. I'm just a little bit further ahead of you. Because we didn't remember the right things. And I'm just telling you, even this week, I have failed in this miserably. I couldn't figure out why is the relationship with some of my children? Why is it so strained right now? What's going on here? And I actually had to rewind. And you know what I was doing? I was trying to get those kids to behave like, you know who? Me. No, we don't watch those movies. You're hanging out with who? What kind of music is that? What am I doing? I'm parenting like a pagan. Look, I'm not suggesting we all become bohemians and throw out the rules and we're just going to be organic, hippy-dippy, no rules, just let the kids run around like most of the kids these days at Walmart. I'm not talking about that. True, isn't it? I'm talking about having my eye on something else. Not behavior. It's not insignificant. But what is God after? He's after a heart that is after Him. And from that heart flows the behavior. And so mom and dad, if you and I are not aiming at the same work that God is aiming toward, I'm sorry, we're failures. We're absolute failures. And I am certain, I would guess, if there's any of you that are here, you don't have to raise your hand. But if you've maybe raised up your child and you lost them, they're gone. They're just living like a complete heathen. Is there anything more grievous? No. And I would say it's grievous to God. What did we just hear moments ago from Armin? We heard that God has joy and he rejoices when people get saved. You want joy in the home? Start pointing your kids to Jesus Christ. And by the way, kids, if you're listening and you're thinking, it's about time somebody's really going at my parents right now. You hold on. Yours is at the end. Okay. Mom and dad, I'm going to encourage us today to reset our parenting. And this is not easy work. I'll specially speak to you men. Sorry for this guys. I prefer doing this with it when it's just men on men, because typically when I hear a sermon from a guy who like points a finger at the fellow's husband, you need to be doing this. I hate it because it's like, okay, she's sitting right here. And if I actually do what he says, then she's going to think I'm just doing it because the guy told me to do it and it's not really going to count. So I'm sorry for that in advance. But I'm going to try to point us all in a reset, a new direction, to stop simply trying to control the mess of sin that is our house and start pointing us all toward Jesus Christ. How do you do that? That's the question, isn't it? Have we not all heard enough sermons lately? Be a gospel-centered home. Hey, that gospel, it's gospel-icious, isn't it? Be thinking about the gospel. And we all go, yeah, amen. And then we all walk out and go, well, what do I do with that? How do I take that information and actually apply it to these little Tasmanian devils that God gave me without blowing my stack? That's what we're going to talk about now. Let's start with this. If God is about the gospel, let's remind ourselves What is the gospel? Fair enough? I'm going to boil it down into two phrases, two components. I think you'll agree with this. We are wretched sinners. Message number one, gotta have that part, right? What's the second message of the gospel? Jesus is an amazing savior who would come to seek, we're not just wandering sheep, we're more like the pit bull, we bite the master's hand. We're the rabid, drooling haters of God, and yet our shepherd comes and seeks us out, rescues us, makes us his own, offers us that promise in John 14 too. I go to prepare a place for you. That's the gospel. We're bad sinners. Jesus is an amazing savior. Now, how do we take this information and apply it when you walk out this door and you're pooped, you've got that long drive home, you get into the van and it starts immediately. The answers in Genesis behavior, it ends and real life starts. And the whole routine begins. I would like to suggest to you, you remember the gospel. And if you can walk away from this with that thought, it'll change your home. I guarantee you, it will change your home. Because I suspect there are some people here who need a change. In fact, I would even guess there are some people here who are on the brink. And you might be actually here today because this is it for you. If something doesn't come out of this that makes this mess better, I'm out. How do we apply? the salve of the gospel and have the joy that he has we remember the gospel here's our problem typically here's the key why we have so much acrimony in our homes we forget the first message of the gospel the worst sinner in the house who claimed to be the birth were center of all paul himself claim to be the chief of sinners i would like to encourage you today to consider that you are the chief sinner. You say, but I'm not the chief sinner. You need to meet my wife. She's the chief sinner. My kids are the chief sinner. You are forgetting the gospel. Because I don't know if your wife or daughter is a worse sinner than you, but neither do you. But here's the sins you do know. You know your sins. I know my sins. And my accounting says I am the worst sinner in the house. Not my wife, not my children. And the second I forget that, look out. Why? Because I am a pride monster. I love me some me. And you love you. It is simply our bent. Jesus identified it. Why don't you love people the way you love yourself? What's the high watermark for love? I love me. And the first message of the gospel should chop me out at the knees and say, you're not lovable at all. You're a sinner. And that first message of the gospel humbles us. And that's precisely what we need, and that's precisely what we're commanded to be in Philippians 2. Have the same mindset that was in Jesus Christ, who did not esteem equality with God, a thing to be grasped. But what did he do? The Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Heaven, humbled himself to the point of death, death unto a cross. How do I get that humility? You remember the first message of the gospel, that you are a wicked sinner whom Jesus saved, and that should bring about humility, but so too should the second message of the gospel. Because if we just focus on the first message of the gospel, we make a mistake, because you're going to end up in a pit of despair. Oh, I'm just a worm. You are. But if that's all you think about, Oh, I'm so bad. I'm so terrible. My thought life, my prayers are so weak. My worship is pathetic. I'm straying. My feet go to the wrong places. My eyes look at the wrong images. I'm a worm. I'm a worm. That's not the totality of the gospel, is it? Then you're going to end up in another ditch. You remember that Jesus died for you, worm. That gives you joy. He did. He died for me. Jesus died for me. So it keeps your balance. You have humility. And then you also have joy. Why? Because that's the gospel. And when we forget that first message, let the games begin. because here's how it goes in my heart when I don't think that I'm the worst sinner then you know who I'm thinking is the worst sinner everybody else in the house which means I think I'm the best person in the house which means when those depraved people do anything that gets in the way of my pleasure, my rest, my enjoyment, my house cleaning, my providing for the family, I go to war. Why? Because I sit on a perch of superiority looking down at those people. How dare you? This home is about me. And when somebody interrupts that, then we go after each other. That's what James talks about, does he not, in James chapter four? Why do you quarrel? That's a great question. The Bible is so practical. Why do you quarrel? Why are there fights among you? Because you want something. You don't get it. You're thwarted, and you murder. And isn't that the truth? Let me be the first to step to the line. Let's just imagine there's a guy, and he He loves to watch the Masters Golf Tournament, like a lot. And this is the one thing on TV that probably throughout the entire year, he wants to watch. So down he goes into the cool of the basement to watch that beautiful scenery that happens in Augusta every single year. And he's enjoying the golf, it's day four. And it's a race to the finish line and that beautiful hole with the bridge. And all of a sudden, one of the kids comes walking right in front of the TV. Hey dad, when are you going to use the car tomorrow? And what do I do? Boom. Hey. Hey, get out of the way of the TV. I'm trying to watch what I want here. What am I doing? What am I doing? I'm esteeming myself as better than her and she or he is getting in the way of my pleasure and I murder. Oh, I don't kill with a knife. But I murder with my words and I murder with my heart. Why? Because I am not esteeming her as better than myself. Why? Because I've forgotten the first message of the gospel. See if I can bring you into this world for just a moment. You're at home, and you're very excited, because guess what? Somebody's coming to stay at your home. Who is it? It's Ken Ham. Ken Ham's coming to stay at your house, OK? Or whatever. John MacArthur's coming to your house. That's your Presbyterian. R.C. Sproul is coming to my house. This is going to be amazing. And so you're very excited. And so you clean the house to make sure everything is exactly right. The night before, you stay up late. R.C. Sproul is snoring, because I guess he does snore. He's snoring down the hall. And you're getting breakfast ready because you want everything to be just right for R.C. Sproul, or John, or Al, or Ken, or whomever you like. And it's breakfast time. And there they come and they sit down at the table. And you start walking toward the table with your fresh-squeezed orange juice. You didn't squeeze that the night before because you knew it would lose some of its vitamin C. Why? Because you're a homeschool family. You know things like that. and you go to pour the juice, and on your way there, you kick R.C.' 's foot. How would you respond? What would you do? I know what I would do. You'd be mortified. I am so sorry. I'm a clod. What's the matter? Let me shine your shoe. And you get down and you do whatever it took to respond so that he did not look negatively at you. Now, you finish that encounter, you walk to the other side of the table, and there sits your teenager, and you kick his foot. What's your response? Watch your foot. Maybe even more. Watch your foot, you Claude Hopper. What are we up to, size 13 now? Go water skiing without the skis. Okay. What happened? What was the difference? What was going on? Your esteeming RC, John MacArthur, Ken Ham, is better than yourself, but not your teenager. And that is the problem mostly in our homes. We're esteeming others less than ourselves. And the first message of the gospel should say, oh, no, you are not. How do we react to each other when we fight? How badly do we make a hash of the gospel? Let me see if you can find yourself in this. When we get into a situation, a fight at home. How do we react to one another? I would like to suggest to you there are four ways that most of us react when we get into a situation. And here's the scenario. Your spouse, your child, but let's make it spouse right now. Your spouse sins against you. I mean this is a legitimate sin. Your spouse says something really nasty, does something bad. It is truly a sin. How do you respond? Is it way number one? They hit the ball to you, and you hit it back twice as hard. Really? My mother? Let me tell you about your father! And you just strike back with far more force than what was delivered to you. That's one way that we can respond, is it not? Here's the second way. You're an accountant. You just take it, but you file it away. because you know some year their spouse is going to do something similar and you can just bring that baby out of the recesses of your mind, slap it down and aha them. that's not like you perhaps maybe you abandon ship your spouse sins against you you just get furious you just get mad on the inside maybe don't blow your stack but you are the one who just disappears you run away from the scene that doesn't necessarily mean leaving the house you go to a room you just get away from it you go to the mall you go play golf you immerse yourself in work but you just run away from the sin that just was committed against you or the fourth type of person See if anybody else can relate to this. Your Mr. or Ms. silent treatment. Fine. I'm okay. And you do not say a word, but you're speaking volumes. And you know what you're speaking? I don't want you on the planet. That's what silence is, by the way. It's murder of the heart without speaking a word. It accomplishes the same end as murder. I don't want you here. That's what murder. You kill somebody, you're out of here. I silence, I chill you out, you're out of here. Does that sound familiar? Now let's consider what's really going on because remember what we're thinking here. We're thinking in gospel terms now. What am I doing here? What you're doing is responding sin for sin. Specifically, are you not punishing your spouse for his or her sins against you? That's what you're doing. You do this to me, bang, I do that back to you in whatever form it manifests itself in. You're punishing your spouse for his or her sins. May I ask you a question? Who died for your spouse's sins? Jesus, so what are we doing when we punish our spouse for their sins? We are in essence saying, I know you bruised your only beloved son, but I need mine. It was not enough. What do we do? We make a hash of the gospel. We need to reset our homes. Moms and dads, we can do this so easily. We go to church and behold thy God and we sing that Jesus loves me, this I know. And then we get into the van and we talk about that deacon. He needs to lose about 50 pounds, wouldn't you say? And look at that idiot, the way that he drives. And they never see Jesus again. What are we doing? We're making a hash of the gospel. Might I suggest to you, leave here bringing the gospel to bear on your brain with every single encounter. And if every conflict in your home, every sin that happens in your home does not result in both parties loving Jesus more, we failed. Why? Because God is about the gospel. God wants us to love him more. And that is why we need to reset our parenting. Now let's talk about what this could look like. Remembering the gospel, that I'm the worst sinner. I come home. And what meets me at the door? What meets me at the door is a wife who is not happy. Why? Because that boy of mine has not been honoring her that day, has not been respecting her that day, has been downright dishonoring, and I get greeted with that at the door. So you know how I react, don't you? This isn't how I wanted to come home. Where is he? And of course, we all know where he is. Upstairs in his room because that's where they get sent. And so what do I do? I'm not thinking gospel. So off I go and maybe on the way the belt comes off Maybe I run to the kitchen drawer for the wooden spoon because this is not the way that I wanted to come home I've been working hard all day King me is home and I wanted my kingdom at peace and I wanted the banquet served and I wanted a little quiet time Where is he? And off we go, not thinking about anything, but getting this mess under control. And maybe it's even more diabolical than that. So that woman God gave me will get off my back and have this house in order when I get home, because that's what I want. because this is my kingdom because this is all about me here stop stop and ask yourself the question how am i going to engage with that boy so that he loves jesus more when i'm done how do i show the gospel to this child how does this kid see that what daddy sings about on sunday morning plays itself out in real life it actually demonstrates this has an effect on my pop It really does control him. What might it look like? Might I suggest to you that you stop? And if you can't get yourself together by remembering that you're the worst sinner in the house, don't talk to your child. Just don't. Because you're going to be undermining what? The thing that God is trying to do. We are the representatives of God for our children. We're put in place to represent Him. I'm not talking Freudian psychology. This is just the reality. This is biblical. We're put there to represent God. And let me tell you, God doesn't treat you like this. Man, that kid! I want to snuff him out. You are hidden in Christ, and you are as loved as Jesus is loved by the Father. And while God will discipline you as a loving father, he's not a simmering pot. He's not a 211 just waiting, and then he boils over on you. And yet, we can do that with our children, and we're not representing God right. How do I get it under control? I'm not the king. I'm the rebellious servant for whom the king died. Remember your place. Now go talk to your son, remembering as you walk up the stairs, Jesus died for me while I was just at... No, I'm a worse sinner than my son. So now you can enter into the room. And if you think this sounds like a fairy tale, that's because right now maybe it is, but it doesn't have to be. And am I suggesting this is easy? No. Am I telling you I do this perfectly all the time? I absolutely do not. But I do believe that this is what we should be aiming towards. Son, Take a seat on your bed. I want to tell you a story. When your dad was in fifth grade, we were living in an apartment. It was a one bedroom, three boys. Mom slept on the couch. Dad was probably in a gutter someplace. And it wasn't easy to raise three boys, I'm sure of that. And my mom was pretty much at the end of a rope and she was on me a lot. She was, I'll just say, she was nagging. She was just, you know, do this, do that. It was just really bugging me because, you know, I had my stuff that I wanted to do. And one day she was just on me so bad and I looked at her and I said to your grandmother, why don't you just shut up? So what I said to your grandmother, and the reason that I share that story with you, son, is because I understand that you weren't honoring your mom today. I understand. I get that. I've been there. I've done that. I was a little sinner just like you. I dishonored your grandma. You dishonored your mom. You know what you got on this bed? You got two sinners, don't you? You got two sinners who need a savior. So why don't we talk to that savior? And then you can go talk to your mom. Now that's a different encounter, isn't it? Now if you think, by the way, I'm suggesting that there are no consequences for behavior. Oh sure there are, of course there are. We don't wanna teach that there are no consequences to sin. And those can be put in place. But if we just go up and administer those, I just saw a commercial on TV. I don't know if you saw it. Uh, the, the, the teenager comes walking into the parents room. They're watching TV, reading the paper, knitting, whatever. And the kid tried, Hey, you know, I talked to the, uh, state farm agent, whatever it was. And he said that because, uh, I'm a good student, what have you, uh, the accident that I just had four weeks without the car. And the kid turns and he walks back to his room. All right, let's exegete a commercial for a moment. What was going on there? What was the kid being punished for? I had to stop and think. I think what he was being punished for was for wrecking the car, right? And I mean, I guess that was it because it really wasn't communicated. We're gonna punish you for wrecking the car, which is another way of saying I'm punishing you because you've inconvenienced me and this is gonna cause me money. What a Christian parent, if he's gonna punish his or her child, which by the way, we should never punish our kids for our sins. I shouldn't have even said it that way. We should never punish our kids. We should disciple our kids. And if that means a consequence, so be it. But I don't punish my kids for their sin. Jesus was punished for their sin. So now I want a disciple. And so if my kid has wrecked the car, I at least need to ask why. For instance, if my kid wasn't responsible, why would I punish my child? Like I've never been rear ended or hit in a car accident. Why? I wouldn't punish myself for that. Why would I take it out on my child? Now let's say the kid was texting. Now I want to talk to the kid about what? You are texting four weeks without the car. Put on the brakes. Wait a second. This is not about driving skills. This is about The gospel. This is about the cross. So now I've got to stop. Now I'm the parents in the bed. The kid has wrecked the car, whatever happened. And they were texting. I'm a Christian. I don't want to parent like a pagan. I want my kid to love Jesus more when this is done. So what could I bring to this scenario? How's about something like this? Son, do you remember the first commandment? What Jesus said? The greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and do what? Love your neighbor as yourself. If I were doing something that was reckless and I knew that you could get hurt. I was out in the garage with a power saw. Now this really is a fictitious story because I don't have one of those and I don't even know how to use one. But let's just say I'm out in the garage and I've got a power saw and I'm doing something that could cause you harm. I could lop off a limb with this thing. Am I loving you? I'm not. So when you're texting and without thinking about others, you're not loving your neighbor because you could kill him. Son, they're Imago Dei, they're image bearers. You can't be reckless. You don't want to kill one of God's image bearers. You're not loving your neighbor. Now, I'm kind of getting to the heart of the issue, am I not? Am I not trying to get to the core of what's happening? I'm dealing not with behavior, I'm dealing with what? I'm dealing with sin. From henceforth, your child is never naughty again. It's much worse. Your child is a sinner. Your child sins. That means, mom, you're at home, you're at the stove, you're trying to get everything ready because you know dad's coming home, and you know that he likes everything ready, and you're working hard, and all of a sudden, off in the distance, you hear some sort of raucous. You're not thinking gospel. You're not thinking sin. You're thinking that's a naughty child. What do you do? It's not just the pot that's going to blow its stack. You go off. What's going on in there? If I have to come down there and then they keep at it. So in you go. Yang, yang, yang, yang, yang, yang, yang, yang. Who started this? All right, you. You're going to do the dishes tonight and you're going to vacuum and say you're sorry to each other. Sounded all familiar? Instead, how's about, uh-oh, my children are sinning down the hall. I don't need to go stop the sinning so that I can get on with dinner. I'm on a rescue mission. My kids are rebelling. They're making it inconvenient for me, but they're rebelling against their master. They're disobeying the commandment to honor their father and mother. They're murdering each other with their words. I need to go rescue my children, and I need to bring my children to Jesus. I want Jesus at the feet of the Savior, not at my feet anymore. And the only way that that can possibly happen is if you remember the first message of the gospel. I am a wicked sinner whom Jesus amazingly saved. Without that, you can't do it. I do not know how people survive without that thought. I don't know how they deal with it. But I know this, when I forget it, oh man, and I've forgotten it so many times, and we need this constant reminder, we need this constant reminder. I remember a number of years ago, the kids were young, and I came home, and Dad was clearly in a good mood, because I announced for everyone to hear, Who wants to go get some yogurt? That was my announcement, which you know, I'm in a good mood because you go to those self-serve places. What are they up to, like $8 an ounce now, right? So you go, typically you go to those things and it's like, okay, kids, not, how much, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, how much in the cup there? No, no, whipped cream, not chocolate sauce. Whipped cream's lighter than chocolate sauce. You know, it just costs a fortune. First semester, you're gonna have to get a loan, because you had yogurt. with hot fudge. But I announced, let's go to the yogurt place because I'm in a good mood. Now let's just watch the dominoes fall and just see sin in homes. I won't name names, but it was Jack who wanted to go alone with dad. He thought it would be better to be with dad than to have anybody else go with. I had two takers. It was a son and it was a daughter, but the son decided, I'm going to sabotage this, and I know exactly how to do it. I'm going to push the button of the one who responded. So he did what he does. He's very skilled at it. He knows exactly what to say to her. And sure enough, it worked. So here's what you've got. He doesn't want her to go. Pushes the button, sins against her, and she announces, I'm not going with him. I see this entire festival happening, and I'm the mature Christian. And I then announced with a far louder voice, and I did that yogurt was going to be served up for free tonight. Well, I'm not going with either one of you. Brilliant. There you go. Just absolutely brilliant. So you got the boy who doesn't want to go with the girl who then says she doesn't want to go with the boy. And I say, I don't want to go with either of them. And my daughter looked at me, and I'm telling you, it was not vindictive. It was from a child who was so hurt. And she said, nice gospel-centered parenting, Dad. Down I went and I will tell you there was a part of me that rose up that wanted to go because I'm louder You know, I can win this one, you know, and I'm justified because remember it's me We're talking about here and I do everything right in this home, but God gave me grace in the moment Believe me. He gave me grace because I can't do this by myself and I had to swallow and say honey, you're absolutely right and I am sorry and Will you forgive me? And I'm telling you, this little girl just went like a sunflower. And if you think, especially if you're a dad, that you're going to lose authority by getting low, you're wrong. You're just wrong. Do you know why? Philippians 2. Because you're acting like Jesus. He didn't sin. He never needed to apologize. But you're being humble. You're showing that this gospel has affected you. I just saw there was a video, sorry, John Rosemond, talking to Dennis Prager, and he said, here's how you need to get your kids to behave. Never get down to their level. Because modern secular parenting, get down on a knee and talk to them so that you're on their level. And he goes, never do that. You just tell them what to do so that they respect you. And I went, that ain't Christian parenting. You know what Christian parenting is? I don't get down on my knee. I get down on the floor. I get underneath my child. I'm sorry, honey. I'm worse than you, and I'm so sorry, and I've sinned against you. Will you forgive me? And you know what happens? The result, the fruit of this is joy. It's joy. Rick Thomas, rickthomas.net, you got to go and read everything that he writes, rickthomas.net. He talks about this like carpet cleaning. You get a new carpet put in and what happens? You try to protect it. Nobody gets to walk on it. You know, you got to take off your shawl of that, but then time goes by and it's not that big of a deal. It doesn't smell as good anymore. And oops, somebody made a stain. So what do you do? You clean it up, but then somebody makes another stain and it doesn't quite come up. And then over time, what happens? Then it gets dirtier and dirtier. Well, what happens if people are spilling and slopping all over it and you never clean the rug? One day you wake up and you go, this is disgusting. This thing is filthy. We got to clean this thing. And so you bring in the steam cleaners and you remove everything and you go, ah, that's so much better. That's our homes. If we don't remove the stain of sin from our homes, I'm telling you what's going to happen. It is going to build up to the point of Vesuvius and one of you is going to boil. and you're gonna, or you're just gonna be bitter all the days of your life and you're gonna resent this whole mess. If you don't have a system, a way to clean your carpets, your home is never gonna have joy. I remember we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. And by the way, state of Minnesota, we're number one, worst winters in the country. I really thought it would be North Dakota. It was Minnesota. So I'm driving down this ramp, horrible snow in Minnesota. It was in, I might have actually been going to visit my fiancé then. And it was White Bear Avenue out in Maplewood or East St. Paul. And I got off the road and there was a snowbank on the side of the hill. And I noticed it was really disgusting because people who sit at the light that smoke cigarettes, they take their cigarette butts and they just flick them out, which I've never understood. It's like throwing something out your window to hit the ground is littering, but apparently not if it's touched your lips. Then it's fine for you to just fling it out for the rest of us to enjoy. It's not litter then. So there it is, and it's just this mound of snow, and it's disgusting because it's loaded with cigarette butts. And up in the cities up in Minnesota, if you're not from above the Mason-Dixon, they come by with the sand and the salt, and it's really quite ugly. So cut to a few days later, I was going down to the same ramp, and I looked over, and it was beautiful. What had happened? There was a snowfall, and it was covered up, and it was really quite... So cut to, the next week I'm there, and it's like, oh, it's disgusting again. What had happened? It had been covered up. But then more cigarette butts and more sand and salt and dirt. And I'm sure that that was the pattern that would happen all throughout the winter. Yuck, dirty, ugly, covered. Yuck, dirty, ugly, covered. But what happens when the spring comes? There's a thaw. And on the ground, it is a foul mess. You've got hundreds, thousands of cigarette butts and dirt and schmutz just all over the place. That's your home. You just keep covering it up. Say you're sorry. All right, I won't do it again. Knock it off. Fine. Don't do that or else. And all you're doing is you're covering up the sin and what's going to happen? You're going to have a meltdown and you are going to have a major mess in your home. And God says, I got the remedy for you. I can clean all of that stuff out. I can take all the dirt out of your home and you can have joy in your home. But I'm telling you the only way you will get there is if you are humbled by the cross. Don't miss this. You must be humbled by the cross or this won't work. Now, I want to hold that thought for just a moment. And I want to pause because I had promised earlier that young people, I was gonna talk to you for just a moment. So let's put that thought on pause because that's where I wanna end today. But I do wanna talk to you if you are young. You can contribute to joy in your home. Do you know why your parents are so crabby? You wanna know why? In part, they're so crabby? Because of you. All right, you let me talk, how long have I been at it? 50 minutes, I've been kinda banging at your parents. Now I wanna come at you for just a moment, all right? They're frustrated. They're at the end of their ropes because you're a little sinner. Now, what can you do to contribute to joy in the home? You can apply every single thing that I've been talking about. Do I need to tell you that your parents sin? Does that come as a newsflash? Anybody need to write that note down? I came to this conference. I didn't realize that my parents were sinners. And then the guy in the gray suit, I'll have to be more observant. You know that your parents are sinners, right? Are they hypocrites? No. There are sinners who have been saved. And they love you enough to bring you to a conference to point you to Jesus Christ. So I know for a fact they love you. You might not think that, but I know for a fact they do. And if you aren't forgiving them, then guess what you're doing? You're forgetting that you're the worst sinner in the house. There should only be one argument in every home. You want to know what it is? Here's an endorsement to fight like crazy in a home. You fight over who's the biggest sinner, and that includes you too, young person. You fight about being a worse sinner than your dad. You fight about being a worse sinner than your nagging mom. I'm the worst sinner, and you'll bring some joy to your home, too. This applies to you also. This is not just adult stuff, and then some year, maybe when you're done with college or have kids, then I'll start applying it. Right now, today, you can bring joy to your home by forgiving your sinful parents. We're still sinners. We're not glorified yet, and that includes your parents. Have you been affected by the cross? Have you forgotten the first message of the gospel? You can help contribute joy to your home too, you know. This isn't just a one-way street. This is family. This is a two-way street. And let me just bring this also for you, young person, and then we'll return to where we put it on pause. Can I just encourage you to swallow the hardest, biggest, driest pill that you will ever put down your throat right now? I will say something to you, young people, that will forever change your life for the better. And you're going to go, I don't want to swallow that. And if you don't swallow it, your life is going to be miserable. You want to know what you can do today when you leave this place? Submit to your mom and dad. They didn't tell me to say this. The Bible did. The writer of Proverbs begs his sons, begs his daughters, listen to me. That's what your parents have been doing, isn't it? Choose your friends wisely. Don't go there. Don't do that. Listen to them. And here's why. And this is the pill. They're smarter than you. Sorry, but they are. They're wiser than you. How do I know? Because they're older than you. Because that's sort of the way birth order works. God put them above you to help you obey your parents because it's the only commandment with a promise, and it'll go well with you. Does that mean it's gonna go perfectly? Does that mean your mom and dad are gonna nail it every time? They told me not to go to that party, but there was no crack being served, and nobody tried to kill themselves, so my mom and dad are stupid. Okay, once in a while, they're gonna miss it. Overall, their batting average will be better than yours. Why? Because they've been playing the game longer. And they're just going to do better with choices. Listen to them. I bet there's a bunch of kids here. I know we did this in my family all the time. Proverbs was our go-to book. Listen, here's the road of wisdom. Here's the road of the fool. Get on the road of wisdom, get on the road. But it starts with recognizing that you're not as smart as your parents and none of us are as smart as the Bible. And so we need to go to that book and submit to it and let your parents help you and your life will simply go better, I promise you. And if you're right now going, ugh, this is just dumb. All right, young man, how old are you? Yes, sir. 16. And, well, maybe I shouldn't pick on it. Okay. Young man, how old are you? You're nine years old. All right. Pretend you can't hear this, okay? 16-year-old. Do you think you're maybe wiser than the nine-year-old? Know a few more things about life? Yeah. How old's your dad? 38. Uh-oh. Okay. 3816 to so he is 22 years older than you whoo, right? Do you think that maybe maybe? Dad could be wiser than you right and there's no shame in that That's not that's there's no shame in that people have lived longer. They just know more than you do and Be a fool and reject it, and you'll go the way of the fool. Or you can be on the road to wisdom and go, all right, I'm looking to my pop. I'm looking to my mom. They know stuff. So when you run into issues, you can actually go to them and say, help me out with this. What's going on? When they say something to you, even when they don't say it well, listen to them and your life will go better because God put them there for your good. And when they biff it, what are you supposed to do? Remember, you know what? I'm a bigger sinner anyway. forgive you mom and then when you come together when one party sins or the other party sins you clean the carpets you remove the filth from your home by asking for forgiveness granting it to one another and cleaning out your house from sin now that was for the young people but this is also for you but we're gonna return the tape to where we left off How do you do this rightly? How do you do this rightly? Because I suspect that there are some people here who are going, you know what, this actually makes sense. I think I'm getting this. I need to think gospel. I'm the worst sinner and then I won't treat everybody so poorly. Then you've missed the point. That's not what I'm here to try to get you to do because you know what that is? That's behavioral modification. This, this could just turn into another system. Oh, I see what I'll do. Okay. All right. I'm a really bad person. I'm a really bad person. Oh, there he is making mud piles in the, in the living room again. Oh, I'm a worse sinner. That's not what God is after. And that's not what this is about. This is about all of us genuinely recognizing we really are the worst sinners and Jesus really is an amazing savior and I love him. Now apply this. Don't use this as a tool. Use this because this is reality. And God doesn't want you to have a better parenting model. He wants you to what? What? have better behaved kids, be a better parent, win the PTA award. No, he wants you to love Jesus more. That's what he wants. And then he wants you to parent your children out of that. So don't leave here thinking, I've got a new system and it might bring some peace to the home. No. Think about the cross. Think about the reality of our sin and the reality that Jesus is our ark of salvation. And God has brought me through the door, Jesus Christ Himself. I am secure, I am safe, and I have joy, and I want my kids to have this joy. I want my kids to love Jesus because I love Jesus. That's what this is about. not a parenting system that comes out of Christian theology, but this is to drive you and me to the cross and then bid our children come. This is where we lose it, because if you just try to use a system, whatever it happens to be, there's the cross, here's your kid, you get behind and you try to whack him to the cross. No. God wants you to run to the cross, sinner. Get there. Remember, as you sit at the feet of the cross, he died for me. Come on, family! Come on, children. This is where we need to be. This is the best place in the world. Join a fellow sinner who loves Jesus so that together we can glorify God for his mercy, his grace, and his loving kindness, because that is what God is about. And that is what our homes should be about. And let me close with this right now. Let's do that. Let's do that right now. I'm not gonna tell you to do it. Let's do it right now. How can you be thinking and getting there? I'm not gonna tell you to go get there. We're gonna go there right now. Let me ask you a question, all of you, moms, dads, kids alike. As you've been listening to this, I've got a really good sense of how you're feeling about this. You might be wondering, has he been peeping into my windows? Nope, my house. What I've been describing for you, how have you been doing? How have you been doing in forgiving one another? Huh? Huh? How you been doing? Good as me. Oh, you're not doing well. How have you been doing at pointing one another to Jesus Christ? How you been doing at that? How you been doing at recognizing you're the chief sinner that's been saved by an amazing savior. How you been doing about thinking about that? How you been doing at serving one another? Huh? How's that going? Serving one another. Huh? Mom and dad, being more humble and serving your children with a joyful heart because you've got the privilege of raising up an image bearer. How you doing? Young person, how you been doing at submitting to your parents? You've been listening, been doing what you're told, joyfully, happily, recognizing they're smarter, they're wiser. How you been doing? Let's keep going, shall we? How you been doing with your gratitude to God? How have you been doing with your prayer life? Pretty tepid lately? Not as fervent as it should be? Other things more important? Anybody feeling that squeeze? How you been doing with your thought life this week, just this week, with loving people in your heart? How have you been doing with lust? I'll say it right here at Answers in Genesis. How you been doing with pornography, anybody? How you doing? In your walk. What kind of an obedient child have you been this week to your Father who is in heaven? We need Jesus, don't we? We need Jesus. This is not a room full of pristine Christians. And I'm not the perfect parental pontificator to tell you to live like me. We're a mess. We're just a sinful mess, rebellious, wicked, ungrateful servants. All of us in this room, all of us. And we have a savior who came and washed our feet. prepared us meals and died on a cross for us. Have you been there lately? Let's just use our ears for a moment and visit the cross. Let's just use our one sense, our ears. Do you know what it sounds like when somebody gets hit in the face? It's not like the movies. It doesn't go psh, psh. It goes thud. You know that sickening thud that when somebody's head meets something that doesn't move? Like when a kid hits his head on the ground and the whole room just stops. Jesus was bludgeoned by fists to the point where you couldn't tell he was a human being. His face was likely caved in. You ever pull a hair out or have your hair pulled? Jesus had parts of his beard pulled out of his face. Can you imagine the sound that that would make? The sickening sound? Listen, just listen with your ears to the taunts. Roman soldiers stripping the Savior, the Prince of Heaven, who came to rescue His creation, being stripped naked and mocked. Can you hear their taunts? Can you hear them, what they must have said? to the naked Savior and listen to the cat-of-nine-tails because we think that it was just like it was like it was from an old Western. It wasn't. It was a cat-of-nine-tails. It was leather straps and they had pottery and nails woven into it and it would rip through with the person's flesh. Hear the screams of the Savior. Hear Him As he gets whipped, they sometimes, the accused one, the criminal, would have his back so shredded it would rip through the skin, it would rip through the muscle, and then their organs would simply fall out and they would die. Can you hear it? Then hear him as he breathes to carry a cross up a hill. And then you can hear the hammers hitting the nail into the hands of the carpenter of Galilee into the feet of the Savior that walked this earth to redeem his creation, nailed to a tree. By the way, that's when his heel was bruised because the nail got driven through his heel. Do you hear it? Do you hear him breathing? That's how you die on a cross. You can't breathe. You run out of, everything's getting pulled down. Like you're in a pool trying to get up and get some air. That's what it's like to be on a cross. Everything is getting pulled down and he was gasping for breath. Do you hear his short sentences because he couldn't get enough air to say more than that? Do you hear that? And then do you hear him say, it is finished and breathe his last for you. for me, for your child. We need this savior. We are dirtier than dirt. We're worse than the slimiest filth. God describes our sin like dog vomit, like the stench of an open grave, like the ooze that comes out of an open sore. We are exceedingly sinful, aren't we? And we've got a Savior who died while we were yet sinning. We need Jesus, don't we? And we've got Him, and He can be apprehended by faith. We are in Christ. You don't just get your sins forgiven. Do you know that about the gospel? You don't just get your sins wiped away. That's what Jesus did when he was taking your punishment on the cross. But you know, as he was walking for 30 some years of life and fulfilling all righteousness, all of that goodness also gets credited to your account. So you're not just seen as the forgiven criminal, you're seen as the citizen of the millennium. God doesn't look at you and go, okay, fine, forgiven. No, he looks at you and goes, you're my beloved, you're in Christ, all of his goodness credited to you. That's the gospel. His active obedience, wiping away the sin, his passive obedience, wiping away the sin, his active obedience credited to you. That's what we get with this amazing savior. We need this Jesus. We need him right now. We're gonna need him when we get into our minivan. We're gonna need when we stop at Chick-fil-A. We're gonna need him when we get home, aren't we? Let's all get there and let's all stay there. And when we see one of us wandering from there, let's beckon each other to come there. Why? Because that is what God is about. And if you live working toward focusing on what God is doing, then you will have the joy that is in him. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We are wandering, straying sheep. And you, the good shepherd, have come to rescue us. And you were beaten and you were bruised on our behalf. This is what the universe is about. You, the diamond of heaven, having a spotlight shined on you that you might be seen as the glorious savior that you are. And we have forgotten that today and yesterday and we're going to forget it tomorrow. And so we come before you and we ask you to rescue us. Help us to remember that we are indeed the worst sinners and that you are indeed the most amazing Savior. And we cannot do this but by the power of your Holy Spirit. And so we ask you to send your Spirit to us to fill us in increasing measure That we might do the same thing that he is doing and that is pointing toward you So that one day God might be all in all And we also pray for the families who are here Who are hurting and who are struggling and who are on the brink? Let them know that no family is beyond rescuing No sinner is beyond saving and that is Acrimonious as their home might be right now. They can indeed have joy in the home as They are in you They will have the joy that is in you. So please rescue those families and rescue all of us every day in Jesus name Amen Thank you, Todd, for pointing us to the cross as we ended out the conference. Thank you for opening up the windows of the home as well and look very practically into our challenges as fathers, as mothers, husbands, wives, children. May these be challenges that we take with us and implement as we go forward. May God bless all of you as you return to your homes. I trust that the things you've learned here, you'll not soon forget. I know I won't. I trust this conference has been an encouragement to you. And until we meet again, God bless.