Father's Day

[0:00] I'm going to do what I can to get through it as quickly as I can because I would really like to have some time for Q&A. And I suspect that the kind of content we will be bringing likely evoke a number of questions.

[0:16] So I anticipate that. We are appreciative of your presence for this special day, Father's Day. It comes every year. It's just Mother's Day, but they are in some respects very similar.

[0:31] In other respects, they are radically different. We take the biblical position that the principal role of the father is to be the head of the family.

[0:42] He is to be the provider and the protector. The principal role of the mother is to be the nurturer and the one who has an even closer relationship to the child.

[0:57] She is to provide things that only a mother can. Mothers, generally speaking, do not make good fathers. And fathers, generally speaking, do not make good mothers.

[1:09] There is a very undeniable wisdom in the part of God and the plan and program of God to provide masculinity and femininity.

[1:21] And we recognize that because of a number of different kind of situations and circumstances, two parents are not always available to a child. But we remain persuaded that that is the ideal and that that is God's intention.

[1:37] That is to be the norm. And on this day, this Father's Day in the United States and in the Western world in general, fatherhood is flagging.

[1:53] Masculinity in general has declined in many ways. This is at least in part due to the successes of feminism that has succeeded in intimidating many males.

[2:09] And I'm not talking about femininity. Femininity is a beautiful thing. You can't get enough of it. Feminism is as ugly as femininity is beautiful.

[2:23] It seeks to upset God's balance that he has established. And we as a culture are paying an enormous price for that day by day.

[2:37] Feminism has taken its pursuit of equality, which is one thing, to insistence that there is no essential difference between males and females apart from the difference in genitalia.

[2:53] Academia and the media have contributed mightily to this notion. We are thoroughly committed to the biblical principle that men and women are created equal.

[3:08] They are not created the same. There is a huge difference. We acknowledge that difference. There are those whom I would call, for lack of a better term, gender blenders.

[3:21] They would erase the distinction. And I don't know whether you realize it or not, but I am satisfied that what is behind this is a gigantic corporate kind of conspiracy that is being participated in by many people who don't even have any idea.

[3:40] They are part of it or being used. But it is to simply depreciate and destroy the original created order and everything that goes with it.

[3:51] And that includes a mother and a father to be parents and a child to be under their authority, their nurture, and their protection. This has been upended in our culture in many quarters.

[4:06] And again, we are paying a tremendous price for that. This led to the nonsensical gender blending phenomena we see today. Largely what all the kerfuffle is about as to who uses what bathrooms.

[4:21] And do you feel like a woman today or a man? Never mind your sex at birth. That's subject to change when you get in touch with your inner self.

[4:35] And so the garbage goes. Perverting sexual identity and throwing overboard the historically embraced ideas of male and female, coupled with the devaluing of human life as witnessed in the 55 million humans we have legally destroyed, all reflect a disdain and not so subtle rejection of the created order.

[5:07] This is man's way of mocking God. Today, in the Western world in general, and the United States of America in particular, we are currently reaping the results of our rejection of God and his authority.

[5:33] And this has led to a rejection of authority in general, in the schools, in the streets, and in the home. This has also contributed in a major way to the radical Islam we are also concerned about.

[5:52] Many see no connection between these. And this is part of the problem. I'm sure there are those who ignorantly and innocently say, well, what does the culture and feminism and all of this in the United States of America, what possible connection does that have to ISIS?

[6:12] You better believe it's got a connection, a big connection. What is behind? What is behind the rationale and the motivation of the jihadists?

[6:23] The jihad is simply the Arabic word for holy war. It depicts conflict. And that's exactly what we are dealing with today in various quarters throughout the world.

[6:38] It started long before the World Trade Center. It started years before that. But most Americans simply did not even recognize it for what it was.

[6:49] And even today, even today, though the jihadists are seriously at war with us, we have not been at war with them.

[7:05] We have not been at war with them. That needs to change. And I get the idea that it is undergoing a change even now as we speak with the new administration.

[7:19] So what is behind the rationale and the motivation of the jihadists? And you will be surprised to learn what is really behind it. These are they who cut off people's heads and destroy themselves with suicide vests in order to kill others.

[7:37] And they will tell you largely it is because of America's immorality.

[7:50] Now, if ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, this is it. These people respond to our behavior by cutting off people's heads and they charge us with immorality.

[8:10] We do not understand the connection, but it is a very real one. And what has taken place in the minds of these people is an ideology that we need to come to grips with.

[8:20] And I keep hearing people talk about it, but there aren't very many people who understand it. The Islamic ideology encourages and fosters this kind of behavior.

[8:31] Because we are classified as infidels. Anyone who is not a Muslim is an infidel. Infidels deserve to be mastered, controlled, dominated, or killed.

[8:52] Those are the options. This is their way of pleasing Allah, their God, which is man's most noble goal.

[9:07] Pleasing God. And to please the God of Islam, and this is very important, I want you to get this. To please the God of Islam, man must be denied the privilege of volition and personal conscience.

[9:27] That is not permitted under Islam. And by the way, the word Islam does not mean peace.

[9:38] It never did, and it never will. And when our own president stood and said Islam means peace, he was simply poorly advised. The word Islam means submission.

[9:53] That's all it means. Submission. Submission. And, of course, the submission is to be rendered unto the God of Islam. Their God by the name of Allah.

[10:04] The God, by the way, whom we see as utterly fictitious. There is no such person as Allah. He does not exist.

[10:16] There is no such person as Baal in the Old Testament. There is no such person as Chemosh in the Old Testament. There is no such person as Dagon in the Old Testament.

[10:28] These are all false deities that are contrived by human imaginations. They are non-existent. And yet, they are the objects of worship and service.

[10:40] So, we believe the only true God is the God who is revealed in the creation that we see and in the scriptures that we have for our reading and our information.

[10:53] Therein lies the true God. In their thinking about denying people their conscience and freedom of thought, they believe that their efforts to destroy the immoral infidels is going to please their God, Allah, and will surely be rewarded.

[11:14] And you've probably heard all of the nonsense about the 72 virgins that martyrs will be rewarded with. I've never heard anything about the Muslim women who may martyr themselves.

[11:28] I haven't read or heard anything about they have 72 studs waiting for them in heaven and all of this. But you know what? We sometimes are amused by that or torn off by that.

[11:43] But the thing that you have to remember is they believe this. They believe this. And we need to understand it doesn't make any difference that it isn't true.

[11:56] What makes a difference is they believe it. And they act on it. They act in accordance with their beliefs. And this is what they believe about their God.

[12:08] And it is set forth in the Quran. This is their way of pleasing God, which is, of course, man's most noble goal. And this volition thing is absolutely critical.

[12:21] When you deny someone the power of conscience, the freedom of conscience, you are saying you must believe what we require you to believe.

[12:36] You do not have an option. And many people have been converted to Islam on the spot. Because sometimes their life was hanging in the balance.

[12:49] When you have a knife, cold steel, put to your throat, it can become very easy to utter the words, there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.

[13:02] That's it. That's it. That's the Shahada. And when you utter those words, you have just become a Muslim.

[13:13] You don't have to sign anything. You don't have to join anything. You don't have to promise anything. You are now officially a Muslim. Of course, it goes without saying that the words should be uttered in sincerity, not under duress.

[13:30] But, if they are under duress, for many of these who seek to get those kind of confessions for people, that's adequate. They consider you a Muslim, even though in your heart you may not be a Muslim at all.

[13:46] Still, you have said the magic words, and that may very well save your life. When you deny people the freedom of conscience, which is something that this country has been birthed in, you are taking away their essential personhood.

[14:02] We are committed to the principle that God has endowed each human being with a volition, with a will. That is the power to make choices, moral decisions, and it becomes the basis upon which we are held responsible.

[14:20] This is going to be the basis for our final accounting before the deity. It is what we did with that will, with that volition that we were given.

[14:30] And when you deny someone the ability to exercise their free will and volition, you are robbing them of a very important ingredient that God put into humanity.

[14:43] And we do not have the right to do that. This means that we may we may vehemently disagree with someone in the position they hold, but we do not have the right to violate their conscience by demanding that they comply with what we want them to do.

[15:05] The point has been made, I may disagree with you completely, but I will fight to the death for your right to hold that position, even though I do not agree with it.

[15:18] What we are called upon to do is to use reason and logic and argument and above all, the truth of the word of God to appeal to people and to get them, to try to get them to see their way clear to reject humanism, to reject self-centeredness, and to embrace the person of Jesus Christ as God's provision for man's sin.

[15:45] But we cannot do that by coercion, by intimidation, by threats, or any such thing. We appeal to people for the love of Christ to make that decision.

[15:59] And that is the only basis upon which we can confront them with the gospel. And it's completely different from Islam. Islam simply says, and the Quran justifies this, those who will not be converted to Allah must be subjected to servitude or disposed of.

[16:21] Those are the two options. And ISIS has been disposing of a lot of people in different countries and you have seen that. History is filled with forced conversions that deny people the freedom of conscience.

[16:37] Islam is not alone in its denial of the freedom of conscience. Christianity, and we need to face this, Christianity as it was grossly misrepresented by the Roman Catholic Church engaged in the very same denial of the freedom of conscience via the infamous crusades of the 11th and 12th centuries when thousands of Jews, Muslims, and others were put to death by order of the various popes who headed the Roman Catholic Church at the time.

[17:17] This is not opinion. This is fact. You can get it online or you can research it from any encyclopedia. The information is there.

[17:29] Both Islam and Christianity as practiced by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries were and are sad and serious misrepresentations sorely misguided in pleasing God.

[17:46] Where is the dependable model that we can follow in a pursuit to be pleasing to God? Only in the Bible do we find this answer and only in the person of Christ do we find the premier example.

[18:05] The word Father. The word Father is found in the Gospel of John 124 times in 21 chapters.

[18:22] That's remarkable. Almost six times in each chapter. Father. And the one who uses the word Father more than anyone else more than all others combined is the person of Christ himself.

[18:41] We were told that time and time again in John's Gospel as well as the other Gospels as well that it was the Father who sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

[18:54] and the Son had but one ambition. This was all he cared about. Was being well pleasing to his Father.

[19:06] I do always those things that please the Father. And at the baptism of our Lord when John the baptizer baptized Jesus we are told that the voice was heard from heaven.

[19:20] this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased to hear him. And again at the transfiguration God testified to the person of his Son and how pleased he was with him.

[19:41] Jesus Christ had but one goal in mind one objective only and that was to be well pleasing to his Father. And you know something? he realized that in fulfilling the Father's will that provides the very best possible outcome for anything.

[20:02] And that is a remarkable thing and it's something that we can really hang our hat on and that is this. God's will cannot be improved upon.

[20:14] And the best way that you can serve your own best interests as well as the interests of others is simply by being submissive to this loving God and getting with his plan and following it.

[20:31] And it is set forth in scripture as to what manner of people we are to be. you can have no nobler goal than pleasing God and you can have no greater contribution to your own peace, safety, security, and everything else apart from pleasing God.

[20:51] You see, we have this natural bent to please ourselves. that's one of the things that gives us this incredible fortitude and dynamic that is found in self-preservation and survival because we are essentially self-centered beings.

[21:17] I hope you recognize that because the Bible makes it very, very clear that probably the first and most significant consequence of the original disobedience to God by our first parents was they adopted to themselves a kind of self-centeredness that was not there before.

[21:47] Prior to their disobeying God, their focus was upon God. When they disobeyed him and became self-centered, the focus turned away from God to self.

[22:03] And that's where it remains. That's in the heart and mind of every one of us, no exception, of those born among women apart from Jesus Christ.

[22:17] And the only way, the only way that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, could escape the curse of self-centeredness and the sin factor that goes with it is to have an entirely unique birth, unlike any human birth.

[22:34] This provides the rationale for the virgin birth of Christ, among other things. So, this self-centeredness has become the curse of humanity. And self-centeredness is the culprit.

[22:47] It is the culprit behind every human conflict. Think about it. This is the thing that disrupts and ends marriages.

[22:59] It's self-centeredness. Each one in that union wants their own way. And that's just being human. That's the problem. And the only remedy for that is the injection of the truth of God's word.

[23:15] And I want to share with you, in closing, and we'll open this for Q&A then, a premier passage in Philippians chapter 2 that I'm sure many of you are already familiar with. And it so aptly describes the character and nature of Jesus Christ.

[23:32] And this is something, by the way, that every father is called to. Well, for that matter, so is every mother. But this is Father's Day, so we're emphasizing Father's and Dad, you are the key, you are the catalyst of the family, because you are the one whom God has put in charge.

[23:53] And we don't know why he put the man in charge instead of the woman, but he did. Maybe it was just primogeniture, maybe it was because he was created first, but whatever, the wisdom of God, that's the way it is.

[24:05] But this does not in any way, shape, or form make the woman somehow of lesser value, or lesser importance? God forbid, that is not the case at all.

[24:16] She is completely equal, she is not 49% of the relationship, she is 50%, she is a full partner, daughter, and she is one whom God has put in place to do what the man could not do.

[24:35] God did not create men to be mothers and fathers, and he didn't create women to be mothers and fathers. He created them as he did. That's God's ideal. Now, as I've said, I recognize there are circumstances where that cannot be maintained because of death or divorce or some such thing, and so many, many children are being reared today in single-parent households, and it has to be a tough road to hoe because both of those roles are thrust upon that one individual and it makes it very, very difficult to fulfill.

[25:12] It can be done, but not without great difficulty. And in Philippians chapter 2, we have what I consider to be the primary example of our Lord Jesus Christ and what this is all about.

[25:25] And Paul says, beginning in verse 5, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.

[25:38] Have this attitude. Now, understand, he is addressing believers. This is not information that is designed for the world. The world cannot comply with this.

[25:50] In fact, the world has no desire to comply with this. The world would probably in many quarters ridicule this. They don't have the ability to do this. But, this principle is incumbent upon everyone who names the name of Christ.

[26:08] This, this is supposed to be the norm, not the exception. This is supposed to be the stuff that Christians are left of.

[26:19] This ought to characterize every one of us who named the name of Christ. And that's what he's talking about when he says, have this attitude. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.

[26:35] And some, I'm sure, will come back and say, I can't do that. Don't get your can't mixed up with your won't.

[26:45] God is too weak. I don't have that ability. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Stop conning yourself.

[26:57] You do. God does not make any demands from you that he has not enabled you to fulfill. He is not a hard task master.

[27:09] God is not some demanding bully, some tyrant who goes around raining on everybody's parade, spoiling everybody's good time with a bunch of do's and don'ts. That's not the biblical picture of God.

[27:21] That's a caricature that some have painted him of and that's just unfair and untrue. Let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What was that attitude?

[27:33] Although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped.

[27:44] That means that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, enjoyed a position of equality with the Father. And yet, he was willing to relinquish that coveted position, walk away from it, come down to earth, be incarnated as a human being.

[28:09] God. You see, Jesus, as the Son of God, existed from eternity as in the Father and the Holy Spirit.

[28:23] It was only his humanity that began in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Prior to that time, he dwelt with the Father and with the Holy Spirit in a spirit kind of combination that we cannot begin to understand.

[28:41] Because God is spirit, John 4, 24 tells us, Jesus said, God is spirit, they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. What does that mean?

[28:53] God is spirit. And by the way, it doesn't mean God is a spirit, but God is spirit. Spirit is immaterial, intangible, you can't weigh it, you can't measure it, you can't see it, but it's real.

[29:12] It's so real that when Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.

[29:24] He didn't commit his body. His body went to the tomb later to be resurrected. He committed his spirit to God. And Stephen, as the stones rained down upon him in Acts chapter 7, looked heavenward and saw the Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

[29:43] Some scholars believe that Jesus' normal position was to be seated at the right hand of the Father. But when Stephen was being stoned, it is believed that Jesus rose to his feet to welcome the first martyr into heaven.

[30:03] And Stephen said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. That's the intangible part of the person that exits the body when physical death takes place.

[30:18] And that is the part of the person that is regenerated. That's the part of you that is saved. Not the body. That's later.

[30:29] This is the spirit. spirit. And this is exactly what he's talking about. In the form of God, is this spirit being? What would that be like?

[30:40] I have no idea. No idea. Here we've got Father, Son, and by the way, he wasn't Jesus then either. He wasn't the Messiah then either. He was simply the Son, the Son of God.

[30:55] Didn't take on the name Jesus until the angel said, thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from the Son. But before that, he wasn't Jesus, but he was always the Son of God.

[31:07] And he existed as the Spirit being as well as the whole Spirit and God the Father. And I don't have a clue to what I'm talking about. But God is not part of the world and the world is not part of him.

[31:20] He is separate and distinct from it. This means that all of the laws that he has created, law of gravity and all the rest of them, they are all subject to him, and he controls them all. Amazing.

[31:32] Absolutely amazing. Although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Because if he had, he would have said, no, I'm not going to let go of this.

[31:46] Are you crazy? To take this coveted position that I enjoy and go down to earth and become one of them? Surely you can't be serious.

[31:58] But when the Trinity, and I take it that this was some kind of conference held in the Trinity, and by the way, how did they communicate with each other? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what language did they speak?

[32:12] Did they speak Hebrew? Or Greek? What was their language? I suggest they didn't have a language. They didn't need a language. They were in such perfect felicity, one with the other, and connection with one with the other, that there was no need to communicate back and forth as we communicate because each is fully in touch with the other.

[32:35] This is an incomprehensible being. This one called God. Awesome. Awesome is not a fit word. It doesn't begin to describe the nature of this God.

[32:45] Being equal with God did not regard equality a thing to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself. himself. He emptied himself.

[32:56] This was a voluntary act on his own part. He emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.

[33:11] It wasn't enough just to become a man. He had to humble himself. Now, let me tell you something, and I speak as a man who knows what I'm talking about.

[33:25] Humility is a tough, tough thing. Humility is a precious asset. Humility is that virtue that when you think you've got it, you just lost it.

[33:42] Humility is preferring others ahead of yourself, and most of us have the attitude, like the guy said, I wouldn't have any problem preferring others better than myself if I could find somebody who was.

[33:57] That's the attitude today. This is the attitude of a servant. This is a willing servant. This is one who surrendered incomparable qualities and character and whatever you want to call it, and come down to this earth and be born as a human being and live among us for 30 years, knowing full well when he did what his end would be.

[34:27] I tell you folks, we are talking about the kind of incredible love that transcends anything that we can imagine. So great is this love.

[34:42] so great. Humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

[34:53] Shortly before Jesus went to the cross, he says, now is my soul exceedingly troubled. And what shall I say? What shall I say?

[35:05] Father, save me from this hour. But I can't do that. It was for this hour that I came into the world.

[35:19] The Son came to do the Father's will. Nothing else mattered more than that. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

[35:34] And not just death, but death on the cross. Therefore, God also highly exalted him. Someone has said that God exalted Jesus to an incredible height because Jesus brought himself to an incredible depth.

[35:53] No one has ever sunk so low from where he started than our Lord. And the Father has exalted him. so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[36:08] That's going to be the final outcome of this. So, fathers, here is our model. And it is a like model for mothers as well.

[36:19] But, dads are called upon to lead the way. And as dads seek to be this kind of a servant in the family and in the world, mom will pick up on that display, on that example, and it will be much easier for her to be the woman she needs to be if you are the man that you need to be.

[36:52] And, fellas, the buck stops with you. And how many families are there where it is the mother who takes the lead with the children and devotions and the bedtime prayers and all the rest, and if mom doesn't do it very often, it isn't done.

[37:15] And dad leaves that to her. This is the father's position of leadership. leadership. It is the role that you are supposed to fill.

[37:26] And sometimes the wife, the woman takes up the role simply because the man either will not or feels that he cannot do it. And yet, the child is looking to dad because dads provide something that mothers cannot.

[37:44] Dads are supposed to be the symbol of provision and protection whereas the mother is the symbol of nourishment and cherishing and providing and caring for.

[37:58] And these serve distinctive roles. And of course there's some crossover. And they're supposed to change diapers too. You're supposed to do the dishes too.

[38:09] You're supposed to help around the house too. Especially if you've got a wife that works outside the home. There's no reason why you shouldn't pull your share of the load and help her because that's partly what a man is supposed to be about.

[38:25] And may their tribe increase. Well, my excuse for running full time is that I couldn't see the clock very well.

[38:38] Okay. Have you a comment or a question anybody would like to ask? Feel free. Okay.

[38:54] Maybe everybody wants to get to the Baptist buffet. I was hearing somebody on the radio the other day was talking about the Apostle Paul.

[39:06] Apostle Paul in one of his passages, I don't remember which one, I think it's Corinthians. He says, I buffet my body. And he said, you'll notice that word buffet is spelled B-U-F-F-E-T-T and it's also a word for buffet.

[39:23] Most of us would rather buffet our body than we would have buffeted it when he's being hard on his body and bringing it into subjection.

[39:35] Well, the way we bring our body into subjection is by buffeting it. That's not what the passage reads. Was there a question or comment? Somebody? Yes, George.

[39:49] I want to say thank you. That's not a message that is really accepted in our culture and it's so refreshing to hear it. And I thank you for that. I couldn't agree more.

[40:01] So I just wanted to give you a thank you. Well, thank you, George. I do appreciate that. I suppose to me, to me, this message and the content is just norm, just ordinary stuff, but I couldn't agree with George Moore.

[40:16] There's probably some places where people would sit there with a scowl on their face and say, where is this judgmental so-and-so coming from? Okay. Well, anyway, I'm among friends, it's obvious.

[40:28] And as I've said before, I wouldn't trade this outfit for any in the world. Okay, no more comments or questions. You had your chance. So would you stand please? I've never used one of these before, but first time for everything, isn't it?

[40:53] Well, let's pray. Father, we are overjoyed simply at the gracious provision that you have made for us. And we recognize that any deficiency that is experienced has to be a deficiency on our part because there aren't any with you.

[41:09] And we thank you for every gracious provision you've made. We thank you for the institution of marriage and family, for fatherhood, for motherhood, for their separateness and their distinctiveness, and yet for the marvelous way they are able to work together so that each complements the other.

[41:30] There's so much about what we've talked about this morning that we fail to fully understand, but we look to you for more light and more wisdom for the sole purpose of being able to be obedient to it.

[41:45] And we thank you so much for all that you've accomplished for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Should there be anyone, should there be anyone in our midst today who is searching and looking for truth and trying to find answers regarding life and how to receive eternal life in Christ.

[42:07] We pray that they will seek out myself or someone else who can give them direction and that they will have no peace and no joy until Jesus Christ becomes the very center of it.

[42:20] We pray in his name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. A second.

[42:33] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[42:45] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.