Yes, sir, it is. All right. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Genesis, chapter number 22, this morning, please. First book of the Bible, Genesis, first book of the Pentateuch, 3,400 years old. Genesis, chapter number 22, and verse number 2. Genesis 22 verse 1 says this, it came to pass after these things, God did tempt Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here am I. And he said, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, get thee to the land of Moriah and there and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Father, I pray you to anoint the messenger this morning and your holy word as it goes forth. As I stand before thee, Father, as I stand before thee this morning, in Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated. This past week we have been inundated through the media with the idea that two men can come together and two women can come together and form what's called a marriage. And this is now intensified. It is almost to the point now where you're saturated with it 24-7 in this pervert culture that you live in. And the idea is that these people love each other, so why should you deny them the same civil unions and life that you enjoy as husbands and wives that God has brought together? And you're here this morning. How many married couples do we have in the house today? Good night. 95%. Over 90% of you are married couples. in this house this morning. And so we have on a constant basis being pushed at us the idea that two women or two men can create a bond of marriage and therefore we are to accept this. This ad I saw yesterday, I saw it, it took a little bit of time. to do a little research into it, the people who were promoting this, and I got the names off of their website. They're not ashamed to let you know who they are and what they're connected with. I got the names of the committee that's responsible for it, all the names of the sponsors for it, the governmental agencies, the federal governmental agencies. Now, remember this about Caesar, folks. Caesar is Caesar. At the best, Caesar will allow you, without persecuting you, to worship God. Caesar is not your God. You render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. If you're a good Christian, you will not be engaged in sedition. You will not be trying to overthrow the government. But you will be a good citizen, you'll obey the laws of the land, and the government knows that. They know they can trust Christians to keep the law. And that's the way it ought to be. But never forget, Caesar is Caesar. He's not the Church of God. Make any difference if he's a Republican, a Democrat, a Whig, or whatever. Caesar is Caesar. So many federal governmental agencies are supporting the idea that a man and a man and a woman and a woman can form a marriage bond. Many, many of the major businesses in this country are pushing this and the upper echelons of the educational establishment. So therefore what you have is a multifaceted push for you to accept sodomite marriage. Now once you ever do that, once you accept sodomite marriage, then you have redefined marriage and you might as well take your Bible and throw it out the back door. Amen. Did you notice these beautiful little grandchildren standing up here this morning? Now that's not a bank, that's not a car, that's not your boat, that's not your guns, that's not your toys, your jeep or whatever you got. These are little children. They have their little lives, they're watching you, and God has committed them into your trust. They belong to Him. Children are an heritage of the Lord. Caesar doesn't own your children. God owns them. And He entrusts them to you to raise in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. Bottom line is, are the children more important than your temporal pleasures and enjoyment and whatever you may be seeking right now to find yourself or to redefine yourself or you know, all this blather that you hear constantly. Or are the children worth it? Because that's going to be who's here when we're gone. And I'm next in line to go. Because the generation before me, they're going every day. So my generation, I'm a baby boomer, I'm the next one up. What are you going to do, preacher? I'm going, that's what I'm going to do. Don't you know that our life is going to come to an end? What are we going to do when we die? I'm going on to be with the Lord. Well, preacher, I mean, is there anything we can do about it? What can we do to extend our lives? I mean, we've got to get every last breath of... No, I'm going on to be with the Lord when the Lord calls me. And until then, I'm going to do what God called me to do. I'm going to live out my life serving the Lord. And my greatest desire is to God, my greatest desire is that I just drop right here behind the pulpit when He's done with me, and the angels show up and carry me into Abraham's bosom, and away I go. That's my desire is to serve him till I'm done. Now I want you to notice this love they're talking about that you're trying to deny them. I want to talk about that this morning. I want to talk about the difference between love and lust because most of the time their definition of love is lust. And under the pretense that you are against love, they're going to shove this down your throat. Believe me, dear friend, they want these kids. Let's get this straight now this morning. They want to take their minds, they want to mold their minds, they want to create a progressive, reprobate just like they are, and they want your children. That's a fact. In other words, your children are more important than your job, than your security, than your friends, than the crowd that you run with, than your toys, than anything. These kids are worth it. Amen. Amen. Amen. And so thank you, Vivian. God bless you for Grandparents' Day. Because I had no idea that what she was doing was going to go along with what I'm going to be preaching. But there's one who did. He has a way of doing stuff like that. Genesis chapter number 22, verse 2, shows you God's love for His Son. For the Bible said, Take thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. Isaac is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham is a type of God the Father. In Genesis chapter 24, verse number 67, Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her, And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Isaac here is still a type of Christ, and his mother is a type of Israel. When Sarah passed away, Isaac's heart was hurt. And so what happens? Rebecca is brought into his life. She comforts him. And who is Rebecca? She is a type of the church. Because the church has not replaced Israel, no. But the church now is in the forefront with Christ, and He has comforted Himself with His body, with His bride, until His mother is raised up again. And Sarah will be raised up, dear friend. Israel will once again become the head of all the nations. In Genesis chapter number 25 and verse 28, this describes much of the love in the world today. Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. You see this? Isaac loved Esau because he ate his belly. He enjoyed the food. There's an awful lot of that, folks. A lot of marriages are on such shaky ground right now, that if you don't do exactly what such and such says to do, your marriage could be dissolving right before your very eyes. We can send men to the moon. We can split DNA and the atom. And we have CRISPR-Cas9 now, where we are designing babies, yet we can't keep a marriage together. Amen? We're pretty bad shape. 2 Samuel chapter 13, verse 1. It came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David loved her. And when he got through loving her and raping her, here's what it says, 2 Samuel 13, 15, Then Amnon hated her exceedingly. so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise! Begone! Can you imagine how clear the Bible is with things like this? She was a beautiful young girl, and Amnon is her half-brother. He takes her, rapes her. When he's done with her, he dismisses her. That, dear friend, describes most of the love that you find out here in this world. It's nothing in the world more than raw animalistic lust. Have you ever been loved? Do you know what love is? 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 8. gives the Bible definition of love. It describes it. It says, charity suffereth long. The word translated charity here is agape. It's the same word translated love. Charity suffereth long, kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. It's not puffed up. and so doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, charity never faileth." If you ever, ever, ever run into that kind of love, latch on to it. Take hold of it, because you've got something that is far above rubies. There are no diamonds or gold on this earth that could buy something like that. That is the love of God. And I'm going to talk about the love of God. It's not words. We live in a dramatic society. Everything is drama today. All these, what do they call them, these realistic programs, what do they call them? What do they call them? Reality shows the most boring thing you ever saw in your life. Amen. Who wants to follow somebody around in the house? And they go sit down at the table and write out something. They go over here. Man, you must be bored to death. You need to get a life. If all you do is sit in front of the tube and watch that junk, there's something bad wrong. Amen. Reality TV. Reality TV. But let me tell you something. The Bible gives a definition of love. It's not a put-on, made-up, fanciful, wordy junk. Love is a word that has to do with what you do. There's something with it. There's some power with it. Love accomplishes something. Love in the Bible is a powerful thing because it will literally take hold of your heart and change who you are. And I'm going to try to describe that for you in just a moment. The Bible said in Hebrews chapter number 9 verse 26, For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world? But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This is the greatest act of love that the world doesn't know anything about. The greatest act of love and most people don't know a thing about it. I heard very little preaching from 2 Corinthians 5. And 2 Corinthians 5 is one of the most powerful passages in all the Bible. 2 Corinthians 5 ought to be shouted from the housetops. 2 Corinthians 5 reveals the character of God more than anything in the Word of God. 2 Corinthians chapter number 5. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. So the Bible said that He made Him to be sin for us who do no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, For He hath made Him to be sin for us who do no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's some of the deepest stuff that you'll ever try to wrap your mind around. Because what we're reading here this morning in Scripture goes all the way back before the first man was ever made. There are too many preachers up in the pulpit that are preaching a God with a club that's ready to smack you into hell the first time you mess up and do something wrong. They don't know Him! Most of you in this house today could have been smacked into hell a long time ago. But you're here this morning. Could have and should have. I should have been kicked into hell a long time ago. But God is a merciful, gracious God. I've learned something about His character. The Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, have you been with me so long and you still don't know me? Have you been with me all this time and you still don't know me? Christian friend? Have you been serving Him all these years and you still don't know Him? Have you learned something about the character of God? He's not a pushover. He's not a jack-in-the-box. He's not your buddy. Have you ever seen this Christ that's got this bandana around His head, and He's got a big long chain on it, and He's got His thumb out there like that, like He's one of the boys? In other words, if it feels good, just do it. It's all okay with God. Have you seen that Christ? That's the Christ that's being preached from the pulpit today. Oh, no, no, no, no. The Lord that I serve, if you just touch the hem of His garment, you can be made whole. If he just walks by, the shadow of him walking by, good enough. Say the word and your life will change. That's the one I serve. He's not just one of us. He's not just a glorified man. Oh, no, no, no. He's much bigger than that. But I want to try to get into something with you this morning. I want to make you think. I want you to think. I heard a preacher this morning, early in the morning, he said, Christianity is a thinking man's religion. He's a preacher up in Wisconsin. I listened to his whole 30-minute broadcast. He had some good stuff. He had good stuff. But he kept saying this. He kept saying that Christianity, our faith in Christ, is a thinking man's faith. Amen. What do you think about what I'm going to read to you? For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." Let's stop for a moment. The Bible says when the Holy Ghost comes into the world, He'll convince the world of sins. Fornication, adultery, drunkenness, lying, thieving, stealing. Now how many of you know and hear that's not what it says? What does it say? When He comes into the world, He'll convince the world of what? Sin singular. Why? Because they believe not on Me. There is a sin principle. The essence of sin. I can't give you the definition of it. I can no more give you the definition of the essence of sin than I can give you the definition of the essence of a spirit. Because sin is a spiritual thing. Sin existed before Adam and Eve were ever made. Didn't it? Sin originated in the heart of Lucifer, didn't it? God did not create sin, but He created the one who had the potential for sin. He gave him a free will. Sin. The world goes to hell because they're fornicators and adulterers and liars and thieves? No. No. If you go to hell because of what you've done, then what Christ did at the cross at Calvary when He paid for your sin was no good. When He went to the cross, He paid for every sin. Past, present, future. How many of you believe that? So if He paid for them, why do you have to pay for them? Have I got you thinking? So what are we doing here then, preacher? We're dealing with what God shows you from His heart. that before He ever made man, He knew sin would enter. And through sin, He would manifest who He really is. It took that for us. We're slow. We're thick-headed. It took us through that to realize what a great God we serve. It took something that will send you to hell. sin, that brings death on this earth, sin. The Bible says that He created hell for the devil and his angels, but it's not what they did, it's the essence of sin itself. Now I'll leave this with you, you go home with it, think about it, study it, read it this week, maybe you'll come to a conclusion. Here's a challenge for you this morning. Go find out what the essence of sin is. You say, oh, preacher, that's easy. Missing the mark. Are you kidding, folks? Are you serious? You think it's that simple? Missing the mark? Hamartia is the word to mean to miss the mark. It's far more than that. The essence of sin is what separates you from God. And did you know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of righteousness? He's righteous and He's the righteous one. Do you realize that what puts you in the pit is to reject the righteousness of God? You ever thought about it that way? Do you realize that rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ is rejecting the righteousness of God? Why would a man reject the righteousness of God? Because he doesn't think he needs it. Do you know why you haven't believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? And ask Him to forgive you of your sins? It's because you refuse to accept the righteousness of God. And the righteousness of God is a person. And the righteousness of God is a person who's lived a sinless, perfect life on this earth. Everywhere you failed, He passed. Everywhere you came up short, He went on. Everywhere you were broken, He was able to go through it by faith. The righteousness of God is a person. By accepting that person, you are admitting, I'm at fault. I have fault. I am a sinner. I need a Savior. So the essence of sin has to do with rebellion and refusal to accept the righteousness of God, but it's more than that. That's just what we see on the surface of it. So what's going on here? Here's what happens. When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible said, God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. The Bible didn't say He made Him to be a sin offering. The Bible does not say He made Him to be sins. It didn't make Him an adulterer. It didn't make Him a fornicator. It didn't make Him a liar. It didn't make Him a thief. No. The Bible said He made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Whatever that is, that's bigger than what I can wrap my mind around. It is something else, dear friend, for him to make his own son sin. But by doing that, he's able to punish sin. By doing that, he's able to break the power of sin. By doing that, he's able to deal with sin, not sins. Sins are the outgrowth, the product, the manifestation of sin. Do you realize that if all sin were removed, if the sin we're talking about, if that sin that he became, if that was removed from mankind, nobody would ever sin. Because that is the source of it. So He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. God dealt with sin when He made Christ sin. He rejected sin when His Son became sin. On the cross the Lord Jesus said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? It was at that moment that the Lord Jesus Christ had become sin, who knew no sin. And how He felt, I have no idea. There is no way that I could understand it. For He was the sinless, perfect, righteous Son of God, dying on the cross in complete obedience to the Father. But now He had become sin, who knew no sin. So if you don't get anything else from what I'm preaching this morning, please get this part. At the cross of Calvary, God took what He knew was going to happen to mankind, sin, and He made His own Son that, so that every man that has ever drawn a breath of life would no longer be held accountable for sin. Because Christ became sin. He punished sin. And by doing that, God was able to justify Himself and His holiness was manifested. And so Christ now had become sin for us. He took that and made Him the very righteousness of God when we are in Christ. How does that happen? I can't explain it. But the Bible says that we are made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would God do that? Why in the world would He do that? Why would He make me the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ? Somebody gave the answer why He'd do it. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. Now I brought out some heavy stuff for you this morning. Some things to go home and think about. And what I gave you is exactly what the Bible says. Folks, I've been through this many, many, many, many, many times and prayed. And about three days ago, God said, I'm going to start showing you something. What I've showed you this morning is what I've been showed up to this point. There's more. And I don't know what it is, but I'm going to follow it. I'm going to get on my knees, and I'm going to pray, and I'm going to read this book, and I'm going to let God reveal to me what's involved here, because there's more involved than what I've given you. There's much more to it, and I want to see it. I want to know it. I want to know, because once I get it, I can give it to you, and I can help you with it. There is no greater love than this, than for God to take His Son and make Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. And then we can be made the righteousness of God in Him, which fully qualifies us to enter into the presence of God. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Hallelujah to God. What does that mean, preacher? That means that God cannot be accused of sending anybody to hell. When a man or a woman goes to hell, it's because they reject the righteousness of God. And there's probably a million different reasons why people do. You just feel like you haven't been dirty enough, mean enough, you haven't committed enough sins, you know? You don't deserve to go to hell. You're a good person. You're good in your religion. You've worked and worked and worked at salvation all of your life, and you've been rewarded for it, and you just feel like you're just too good to go to hell. I'm going to tell you something. I am right now before you this morning confessing from my heart and from my soul that if we're left up to my righteousness and anything that I've accomplished in my lifetime, I'd drop into the pit so fast it would make your head swim. I cling to the righteousness of God. I take hold of the sign of God. We prayed with this brother right here a minute ago. He says to me, he said, I preached this morning at the jail, and he goes down there and preaches to these prisoners. And he said, a spirit came on me and it's about choked me to death. He said, and I understand why, because he's preaching the Word of God. He's doing something for the Lord. And you know what I was talking about at Sunday school? These spirits are powerful things. So what do we do? I got down here in this altar and I said, Lord Jesus, I plead your blood over this brother, this Satan. I talked to him right here. I said, Devil, you don't own this man. You have no claim over his soul. He belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I plead his righteousness and his blood on this man this morning right here. And we went to battle for him. That's what you've got to do. Now I'm going to close with this part this morning. This is important. Ephesians chapter number 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The Apostle Paul goes into the Christian home. Do you have a Christian home? TVs loaded with sitcoms of families. They're at each other's throats. His children, her children, their children, whatever other children brought in and blended families and every kind of a family. We live in that culture. We have blended families in this church. What do you do? What do you do when you get to the point to where over half of all of the homes in America are blended families? What do you do? What do you do? You go back and preach the Bible. That's what you do. I'm not telling you to break up your home. But let me tell you what the Bible says. Because some of you are young enough in here today and you're starting out in your homes and your families, your wives and your children, to where this will save you a lot of heartache. Husbands, love your wives. Did you know the word love varies agapeo again? The love of God? Well, preacher, I'm just not physically attracted to her anymore. and our lives have just taken different directions. We're still friends, but that fire's not there anymore. She drifted one way and I drifted the other. Oh, you took the good old American way, is that it? But preacher, I still go to church and worship God every Sunday. And I'm looking for another wife or another husband. Which one is it? Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth? If you live long enough, you can have 15. Try them out, like trying a new car, you know? Here you go, on down the line. Here's what the Bible says. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. It didn't say, wives, love your husbands. It said, husbands, love your wives. There's not a book on the face of this earth that knows the difference between a man and a woman like the Bible. The Bible knows the difference in the way a woman thinks from a man. The Bible knows the difference between the way a woman is made from a man. The Bible knows the difference between what a woman wants and a man. The Bible makes it very clear that there is a difference between a man and a woman and it's far more than biological. It goes all the way to the soul. And the Bible deals with that all the way back in the book of Genesis. Her desire shall be unto her husband. That's what it says. And he shall rule over you. It says plainly, wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord. It lays down a structure in the scripture that once that is turned upside down, everything is turned upside down. Everything changes. And this is what's happened to this pervert society that we're living in. I mean, good night, man. If you're going to try to join two men together and two women together, you don't know a thing about a marriage. We live in a country right now where they don't know the difference between a man's bathroom and a woman's bathroom. Amen. Listen, I don't talk to people like that. If you don't know the difference between a man's bathroom and a woman's bathroom, we don't have anything to talk about. You're crazy. Amen. You're nutty. As they say, you're crippled too high for crutches. Whatever you want to say. You got a nut loose somewhere. Branch not baked. Listen, you got a problem. If you don't know the difference between a little girl's bathroom and a boy's bathroom with the men and the women, you got a problem. I don't care if you're the governor. I don't care if you're a senator. I don't care if you're the president. I don't care who you are. The Bible is plain on it. Husbands love your wives. What's that mean? That means husbands God will give you the fruit of the Spirit, and one of the first things in Galatians that's mentioned as the fruit of the Spirit is love. And that word is agapeo, or agape. It's a noun form and a verb form, both ways. Agape or agapeo is the verb. Love your wife. Well, she's not attractive to me. It's got nothing to do with being attractive. Well, I don't have any feelings. It's got nothing to do with your feelings. Don't let the world tell you what a marriage is about. They don't know anything about a marriage. Anybody that tries to join two men together and two women together, they don't know anything about a marriage. Don't listen to these people, they're crazy! Amen! So men, get on your knees and get on your face and get right with God. Lord, help me to be a man in my house. Caught I'm a man. Let me play the man. Let me be the man. Let me love my wife. And let me do it in front of her children. My children. The mother of my children. Let me form a bond in my home. Let me have a foundation in my home. Let me be a man. Stop going out here and leaning up against the bar and bragging about your who or whatever you are and drinking with the boys. They don't know anything about you. They don't know anything about marriage either. Look at their masses. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Do you know what they're going after, folks? They're going after the children. You know what they're going after? They're going after our homes. They don't know anything about a home. Then what makes a home? A husband, a wife, and children. That makes a home, right? That's a home. The home's not a crack house with a bunch of polled dope heads in there that can't make it from one day to the next. You're a slave! Are you a drug addict? You're a slave! If you're a drug addict, let me tell you something, the only thing that can break that power is the blood of Christ! It can break it! You are a slave! It takes the blood of Christ and he can, boy, believe me. There are men in the pulpit right now preaching all over this country that are drug addicts. God saved them and brought them out of it. But men, start right there. That's square one. That's home plate. Love your wives. Love them. Show them you love them. They'll know it. Women have a sense about them. Men don't have. It doesn't matter whether you think that's so or not. They do. They have an intuition. They've got a sense about them. You start loving your wife the way you're supposed to love your wife, and she will respond to that. There's the first place in a family. And the family is the first place in society. And the Christian home is the greatest thing you could have. A Christian home. A Christian home. You come in that home and a husband and wife love each other. The kids, you know, you're going to fight. Good night. You're going to argue. You're going to fight over the doughnuts or the this or that or this or that. That's what kids do. But that doesn't mean you didn't have a Christian home. Amen. Wouldn't you like to have a Christian home? Wouldn't that be wonderful? A Christian home. You come home, your kids come home from school, you've been out here in some hellhole somewhere all day long. These kids are out here, so messed up, they don't know where they're coming from. And yet you say to yourself, I know when I get home, I know where I'm going. I got a mommy and a daddy there and they love me. I'm going home. I'm going to my Christian home. Some of you parents ought to get up this morning, you ought to walk down here and you ought to say, Lord God, we've been neglecting the most important thing is our Christian home. We've neglected it. We've put everything in the world in front of it. Sports, movies, the theater, travel, recreation, you know, stuff, clothing, shopping. Everything takes precedent over our children and our home. The time you spend in your children It would be a clear indication of what it means to you to have a Christian home. Your children are so important. After that car is worn out, you'll still have that son or that daughter. After the roof falls in on that house, you'll still have those grandchildren. You see my beautiful little 10-year-old grandchild up here this morning? Don't mess with her. Amen! What matters to you? Let's have a Christian home. There the love of God and the love of Christ will manifest itself. Lord Jesus, in Thy holy name, bless Your Word, bless it to the people, move the hearts, If we have mothers and fathers in here, Lord, that need to take hold of each other and get down and pray together and say, Lord, bless our home again. We want a Christian home. We want our little children to grow up in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. We want wisdom. We want understanding. We want guidance. We want to know how to live in 2018 in this country. We want to know what's good and what's not good. We want to know what to receive and what to reject. We want to know where to go and where not to go. We want to know who the friends are, the right kind of friends and who they're not. Teach us these things and show us, Lord. Show us. In Thy holy name I pray, and for Jesus' sake I ask it. Amen.