Clean Transcript

The Family - Part 1

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• I wanted to begin today this series on the family, and I do not exactly know how long I will be on this, but I know it will probably be a minimum of eight to ten weeks. I already have six of the messages prepared and probably going to be at least three or four or five more. Genesis chapter 2, today is going to be part one of the institution of the family, the dominion aspect. So look in Genesis chapter 2 beginning with verse 18, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone."

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• "I will make an help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

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• "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." The institution of the family. I've taught you repeatedly over the years that God has created only three institutions. He created the family, which is a ministry of education. He created the church, which is a ministry of grace. And He created civil government, which is to be a ministry of justice.

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• Now, if you've not thought it through, let me point it out at the very outset of this message that the family is the most fundamental and necessary of all the institutions. Why? Well, without the family, you cannot have either a church or a state. Without the family, you don't have anything. It is the most basic institution. Without the family you cannot have proper teaching, proper training, proper education. You cannot have either good Christians or good citizens. Children, listen carefully, who will not respect the family will not respect the church or civil government. Children who rebel against the family will also rebel against the church and civil government as well.

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• Now, if I had a blackboard and were trying to draw a picture for you today, I would do it like this. I would put a great big circle and in that circle I would write the name God. And then I would take and draw a straight line down from God, draw a smaller circle, and write the word family. Then I would take a horizontal line and come out from the family on one side and drop down and draw another little circle and write church. Then on the other side of the family, I would come out, draw another horizontal line, drop down and draw another circle and put civil government. So you can see then that everything comes from God to the family, and from the family it branches out into the church and into the civil government. So this picture then would be a proper diagram of the importance of the family and of the three institutions that God has ordained. Now, let me begin today by saying this, and I want to emphasize this for you, however I should not need to emphasize it, but I'm going to, the same God that ordained each of these institutions.

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• The same sovereign God also defined and limited each institution and gave it its proper sphere of authority. Therefore, each institution has its own sphere of authority and is not to be interfered with by the other institutions, as long as each institution is fulfilling its proper role. The point I'm trying to make is there is to be absolutely no usurpation of authority. Let me clarify that for you.

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• For instance, here's the family. As long as the family is functioning in the role that God has ordained, the state or the civil government has no authority and no right to step into the family and say, look, you cannot train your children like that or you must train your children like this. No, the state has no authority to do that. The only time the state would have authority is if there is a parent that is murdering or hurting the child or something like that. If there is a clear violation of the law of God, then the civil authority would come in and have the right to do so, to interfere in that family, but as long as that family is not violating the law of God, as long as they're functioning in the role that God has ordained them, there's to be no usurpation of authority. So therefore, with the state or with the civil government, there would have to be what you and I would call a hands-off policy. Now, on the other hand, neither the church nor the family can look at the civil government and say, "You can execute that murderer."

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• Yes, they can. God says they can. We have no right to tell the state that it cannot fulfill the proper role that God has ordained it, and the proper role is the ministry of justice. So that is what I mean when I say that God not only instituted each of these institutions, He created them, but He also defined and He limited their roles and He gave them each their sphere of authority.

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• So each institution then must function biblically in order for there to be prosperity and peace. If we are to exercise dominion in our proper sphere, then we must function according to the way God has ordained each sphere to function. Let me point it out. If there is a breakdown in any other institution—church, family, or state—if there's a breakdown in either institution, you're going to have one of two things: either anarchy or totalitarianism.

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• And that's not just true in civil government. That is true in the family as well. You look at the family today, you either got some hard-nosed, iron-clad man slapping his fist down like, "It'll be this way or else!" Or on the other hand, there is no discipline whatsoever, and the kids do what they want. Husband and wife do what they want. In other words, just no discipline at all. Just total, absolute anarchy. And that's what is happening in our land today.

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• It's the same when the state fails to function biblically. It's the same when the church fails to function biblically. That's why, in the average church, there's no such thing as church discipline. It's nothing but total anarchy because most people do what they want to do and live the way they want to live, absolutely without regard to the Word of God.

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• Now, when we're talking about the family, let's ask a simple question. Why do we even have a family? Why not, as the hippies used to advocate in the 60s, free love? Why in the world do you have a husband and a wife and a family? Why not breed as dogs and cattle and horses and other animals? Let me ask you a question. Have you ever noticed that in the animal realm, after mating, usually there is no communication? There is no responsibility, no exercise of dominion. It is simply each animal for himself.

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• When a buck mates with a doe, he doesn't stick around and help raise that baby fawn. He leaves. Same thing with a hog. Same thing with a horse. In other words, there's just simply no responsibility in the animal realm. When you take that and apply it to the human realm, it is the same truth. Probably now five, six, seven years ago, Alice and I had a man tell us about his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law had sired 36 children at that time.

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• Of course, from different women. He was not married to any of them. But he had sired 36 children.

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• Now, let me ask you a question. How many of those do you think that man supports? How many do you think he disciplines? How many do you think he educates and teaches and trains? And the answer is none. It is now left up—and our great welfare society—to the taxpayers to feed and clothe and give his children a good government education. You understand what I'm saying?

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• When humans live like animals, they end up acting like animals and there is never ever any assumption of responsibility. God has ordained the family. And you're going to see in the family there is responsibility.

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• Now, let me begin today by giving you my first point. There's going to be about six points to this message. I'll probably only cover three or four today. The rest will have to be next week. But here's the first point. The family must be viewed in terms of God. If you and I are to understand the family, we must do so in terms of God. The proper point of beginning is to begin with God. God's the one that creates the family. God's the one who ordained the family.

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• He made it as an institution. Therefore, it can only be understood in terms of God.

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• Now, Sigmund Freud and other socialist philosophers teach the evolutionary development of the family. In other words, originally it wasn't like this, but the family just evolved. And then they infer that we can go on from the family and we no longer need the family. In other words, the family is absolutely disposable. Like a disposable diaper or disposable Kleenex. Just throw it away. Please understand that what the socialist philosophers want is this. When you do away with the old collectivity, the family, it is only so that you may further establish the new collectivity, the state. In other words, the family no longer will have control. It will be the fact that the state will control everything. The family will no longer be independent. The government will have control of everything. Why, don't you remember?

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• It was even Hillary Clinton herself who wrote a book on the family and said, "It takes a village." Why do you need families? You don't need families. You need a village. You need a government. That's what she was saying. So anytime you try to do away with the family, you're trying to do away with the God-ordained, God-created unit that God has given us to function in this society that we may properly be good Christians and good citizens as well. Now, the meaning of the family is not even to be sought for in procreation.

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• Now, producing offspring to perpetuate your race is indeed important. But although it is important, it is certainly not the whole of the family. The family has to be understood in a theological sense. The family is not just simply a social institution. Family life only has meaning in terms of God and His Word. Let me put it like this. The family life is to be God-centered, not man-centered.

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• It is to be theocentric and not anthropocentric. God is to be at the absolute center of it. Let me give you a quote today from R.J. Rushdoony in his book, Institutes of Biblical Law, and he's giving us the importance of the family and especially the importance of the family in reference to God. And listen to what he says, just one short paragraph. "The family is not only the first environment of the child. It is also his first school where he receives his basic education. His first church, where he's taught his first and foundational lessons concerning God and life. His first state, where he learns the elements of law and order and obeys them. And his first vocation, where he is given work to do and responsibility in terms of it. The essential world for a small child is the family, his father and mother in particular." Roderick C.

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• Meredith has summarized the matter aptly. "In the eyes of a small child, a parent stands in the place of God Himself. For the parent is the child's provider, protector, lover, teacher, and lawgiver." Isn't that wonderful? You stop and think about that. The first environment is the family. The first school is the family. The first church is the family. The first state is the family. The first vocation is the family. The family has to be understood in theological terms. It cannot be understood in man's ideas, man's theories, and man's views. God created and ordained the family, so therefore if you understand the function of the family, you must understand it in reference to God Himself.

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• Now, if you look in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1, beginning there, verse 27, and reading through verse 30, the second point today is this. The family was designed by God to be an instrument of dominion. The family was designed by God to be an instrument of dominion. In Genesis chapter 1, beginning with verse 27, the Bible says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, the man and the wife, and God said unto them, the man and the wife, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat."

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• And it was so. Now, I want to call your attention back to verse 28. There are two words there. The first one is subdue, and the second one is dominion. God said that the man and the wife were indeed to subdue the earth and have dominion over it.

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• Now the word subdue is the Hebrew word kabash, which translated literally means to subdue, to bring into subjection, to bring into bondage, to keep under, to dominate, to tread down, to make subservient. So God gave Adam and Eve this order that they were to make subservient the earth to them, to themselves. They were to bring it under domination. Now, the word dominion is radah, which means to rule, to exercise dominion, to prevail, to subjugate, and to cause to dominate.

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• So notice what he says now. He called Adam and Eve to subdue the earth, to bring it under their feet, and to exercise dominion.

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• Now, Genesis 1:28 has been variously referred to as the Dominion Mandate, the Dominion Charter, or the Great Charter. Now, I want you to note something. The Dominion Mandate was given to Adam in his married estate. What does the Bible say? "And God blessed them, the man and the wife, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion." Why in the world do you think when God brought Eve to Adam that she is called a help meet?

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• That's just an old English term, which means a helper that is suitable to, a helper that is answerable to. When he saw all those animals, there was no helper suitable to him. And God said, "I'm going to make a helper that is suitable to the man." The word help-meet is from the Hebrew word ezer, which means a helper, a help-meet, one who is suitable and answerable to one's needs.

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• So the husband and the wife, the father and the mother are called then to dominion. God gave this dominion mandate to Adam in his married estate. Christian men are called to dominion, but also Christian families should be dominion conscious. The sovereign God has delegated authority, power, and dominion to the family in and through Jesus Christ.

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• Now that's going to become more evident just a little bit later. But let me just point out the fact that man, by nature, is dominion-oriented. In fact, I'm going to show you that man is dominion-oriented not only by nature, but by calling as well. First of all, let's consider the fact that man is dominion-oriented by nature. Have you ever noticed that men are usually more aggressive than women? And usually it's the man who chases the woman.

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• Except in my case, and Alice chased me. I can tell you all really believe that, can't you? Don't you? No, but man is more aggressive than the woman. I mean, you know, there have been studies that have been done between men and women, and they made an amazing discovery. The discovery was this, that men and women basically were identical, except that men were superior to women only in two areas.

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• The first one was abstract thinking, and the second one was aggression. Which means, by nature, we are the aggressive sex. God created Adam to be his vicegerent, or to be his vice-president. God created Adam to rule in that garden as his vice-president, under God, for God's honor and for God's glory. You remember the very first catechetical question that is asked in the Westminster or Philadelphia, and probably Barry Souther, catechetical instructions.

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• "What is the chief duty of man?" What is it? "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." And Adam had that dominion mandate in the garden to glorify God. By nature, we want to exercise dominion. We want to conquer. That's all there is to it. But we're not only dominion-oriented by nature, we're also dominion-oriented by calling. Now, I want you to note that God not only created Adam to be dominion-oriented, God actually called Adam to exercise dominion. So this calling then, listen carefully, is a biblical calling. Practically speaking, God created Adam, He placed him in the garden, He called then Adam to a vocation, and that vocation was to till that garden, and to plant that garden, and to control that garden, and protect that garden, harvest that garden, and enjoy that garden. Are you listening? Work and fulfillment. Work and responsibility and fulfillment go together.

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• Do you know why there are so many unfulfilled people in this land today? There are very few who work. And very few who work responsibly. You know, I've often wondered about these folks who just live off welfare. Have they ever take a vacation? How do you ever rest up? I mean, you know, if you don't ever do anything... But God has pointed out the fact that this work and responsibility and fulfillment go together.

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• And let me show you something else. As you read Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, you will find that work existed before the fall. It only became onerous and difficult after the fall. Before the fall, work was a joy, a pleasure. Holby and I had some tough times this week, and both of us probably sweated out about a gallon or two worth of sweat. But you know, I thought about this. I wonder if we'd have sweated back in the garden. I don't think so. I think we would have just enjoyed it.

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• Maybe it'd been cool enough. I don't know. But I'm just simply pointing out, work did not really become difficult and onerous until after the fall. I want you to understand that since God has created us as a dominion-oriented individual, not only by nature but by calling, it's equally important that we understand that any calling, any vocation whereby man extends his dominion under God according to God's purpose without abusing or misusing or contempt for the earth is indeed a holy calling. You do not have to be a preacher to have a holy calling. OBGYN is a holy calling. Veterinarian is a holy calling. Buying books and selling books is a holy calling. As long as you're extending dominion under God without abusing or misusing anything that God gave you, it is a holy calling. Whether you eat or whether you drink, do all for God's honor and God's glory. So, the very fact of the matter is, when God called us to our work, it was a holy calling.

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• Now, let me point something else out before I go any further. If it has never dawned on you, I want you to think about this. When God created Adam and Eve, He created them full grown. He did not create a little baby and nurse them until they grew up. No, He created them mature. The goal is maturity. You cannot understand man by a primitive past. No. The way you understand man and what really makes a man is mature responsibility and work.

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• Let me say this very plainly. It is not age that makes a man, but maturity, responsibility, and work. I have known men much older than myself that I would not entrust anything to. And I have seen some much younger than myself that I would very gladly entrust something unto, because for their age, they are exceedingly mature. Maturity is the goal. Man has been called to work. Man has been called to assume responsibility. Man has been called to exercise dominion and only in that light can he be considered a man. It is not muscles that make the man. It is not physique that make the man. There have been plenty of women who have fallen in love with a man's body only to be exceedingly disappointed when they found out they married a child or a mama's boy. Now listen, man's calling is under God. I'm going further. The woman's calling is in terms of her husband's calling.

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• Now I'm just giving you a little overview because I'm going to develop some of these thoughts in the next few weeks in greater detail. But the woman's calling is in terms of her husband's calling. That is why she is called a help-meet, a helper that is suitable to, or answerable to, her husband's need.

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• Now, if you haven't put two and two together, let me try to add it up for you. Since God has called man to exercise dominion, his work must be productive, it must be fruitful, it must be fulfilling. Otherwise, he is frustrated and discouraged. His calling is in terms of his vocation under God. So if man then is unsuccessful at his calling, there will be absolutely no satisfaction in his life.

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• Now I want you to think about that. If there is no success in a man's calling, there's not going to be any satisfaction in his life. Stop and think about this for a moment. Can you imagine what Adam would have achieved in the garden if he had never sinned? The garden was really and truly nothing but a test plot, so to speak. Had Adam succeeded there, it would have been the earth. And once he conquered the earth, who knows what else he would have conquered? If Adam had not sinned, he would have been successful at anything and everything that he had done.

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• He would have been able, ladies, to finish whatever he started. Now you know why most men don't finish whatever they start. Because we're sinners. Now, think about this. I've just made the point that men, particularly, are dominion-oriented by nature and by calling, and their work must be fulfilling in order for them to be satisfied. You wives, let me ask you a question. Some of you, I know, have now retired husbands. That's okay.

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• But do you remember when your husband was working? When your husband came in in the afternoon, could you tell automatically whether or not he'd had a good day or a bad day? And the answer is yes. Because the time he walks in the door, he's going to kick the cat or do something, and you can look at his face and you know he's upset, you know he's disappointed, you know he's unfulfilled.

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• Now, remember, and I don't want you to miss this point, I told you earlier, and I'll show it to you in the next several weeks, that a woman's calling is in terms of her husband. If a husband comes home unfulfilled and unsatisfied in his work, there is absolutely nothing the woman can do to please him and to satisfy him. And then she begins to feel disappointed and frustrated herself. Women have never really and truly grasped the importance of a man's work. You heard about the husband, of course, who came home, had a bad day. His wife said, "What do you want for supper?" "Some two eggs." "Fine, how do you want them?" "One fried hard and I want the other over easy."

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• She brought them to him. He looked at them and said, "Wouldn't you know it? You fried the wrong one hard." Well, I mean, come on. That's the way it is when a man comes home unsuccessful and unsatisfied and unfulfilled. And when he is that way, there's not one thing you can do to help him. And then you consider yourself a failure because you can't. And the problem is you've just never grasped what work really and truly means to a man. Listen to me. Men must work and they must be successful in their line of work or ultimately the family suffers. Let me go further. Men must be men not only in terms of work but in terms of knowledge.

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• Now, I want you to look back in Genesis chapter 2. Look in verse 19, Genesis 2 verse 19. "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help answerable or suitable for him." Now, I want you to watch something right here. This is very important. God created all these animals and He brought them to Adam to see what He would name them. Please don't think that Adam was looking around, "Oh, there's that cow, she's trying to be number one, I'll call her Bossy. Oh, and there's one that's multicolored, I'll call her Paint." No, that's not what Adam was doing. When Adam was naming the animals, the Hebrew word is shem, what Adam was doing was he was scientifically classifying those animals.

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• More specifically, let me tell you what Adam was doing. Adam was reading in those animals the very purpose for which God created the animals. There was knowledge. It was not just work. Adam knew the mind of God and the will of God and the purpose of God for each of those animals that he created. And Adam was classifying those animals.

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• Now, let me point out something. One of our problems in this day and time is we live in a world of absolute, abysmal ignorance. We had a prayer request earlier today that the Lord would teach us and share and open eyes to the truth. Let me ask you now, I know I know you're the exception. I know that. But I'm just going to ask this question. How many books have you read this year? Think about it. Do you realize most people never read?

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• They can tell you what Channel 7 says on the TV, but they can't tell you what Matthew chapter 7 says. Or Romans chapter 7. The point I'm trying to make is this. Men can only be men, not only in terms of work, but also in terms of knowledge. Men are responsible to lead their families and teach their families. Let me show you. Turn in your Bibles, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians 14. I'm just showing you where we have failed and where we are failing.

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• What one of our problems really is in this country and in our churches. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And let's begin reading there verse 33. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 33. Look at it. "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." Now God is not the author of confusion. Hmm. I wonder what part of confusion is He talking about here? Well, watch this. Verse 34. "Let your women keep silence in the churches."

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• "For it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."

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• Now, I'm going to be absolutely honest with you. I enjoy answering questions. I don't mind answering questions. But I'm going to tell you how it really and truly is supposed to work. Here's how it's supposed to work. If Marilyn has a question, she's supposed to ask Ernie. If Ernie doesn't know the answer, he's supposed to ask me. And then I tell him and he goes back and teaches his wife. That's really the way it's supposed to work. Really, the way it's supposed to work is the husband is to have the knowledge and the skills to find the answer himself. Men can only be men in terms of work and in terms of knowledge. Are you listening? The husband is not only to be the provider for the family, he is also to be the main teacher in the family. That doesn't mean his wife can't help him. That doesn't mean that she can't help teach the children. But it does mean that the husband is to teach the wife and he is ultimately responsible for even that which the wife teaches.

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• Because God has called us to exercise dominion. But the man is responsible.

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• Now, men, let me ask you a question. How in the world can you fulfill your responsibility if you're ignorant of the Bible? How can you pass on any kind of knowledge that you do not possess yourself? It's impossible. When God created Adam, He gave him work and He gave him knowledge. And if you and I are to exercise dominion, we have to learn to work biblically and we're going to have to learn and to have knowledge and how to communicate that knowledge in a biblical way. So first of all, the family can only be understood in terms of God. Secondly, God created the family for dominion. By the way, let me say it again. That's one reason God gave the wife as a help meet, someone who is answerable to and suitable to the needs of the man, someone who will work with the man and help the man.

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• And you've heard me say, and I don't mind saying it, if the Lord took Alice, I'd have to marry 40 to take her place. I'm just simply saying that is the way it is to be. The third thing today is this. Man's fall was the result of attempting an autonomous dominion without God. Autonomous just means independent. Auto, self; nomos, law. Autonomous means self-law. Man's fall came about because he attempted an independent dominion without God.

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• Look in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. And let's read the first five verses. Genesis 3, beginning with verse 1. Watch carefully. Genesis 3, verse 1.

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• "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

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• Before I begin commenting on chapter 3, look back to chapter 2 and verse 16. Look what the Bible says. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now when the Bible says in verse 16 that the Lord God commanded the man, literally here's what it means, that the Lord God put him under an oath. It's not that just God said, "Adam, thou shalt not eat of that tree." He did say that, but God put him under the oath, "Adam, you tell me you will not do this thing." And so when you get to Genesis chapter 3, the woman sees that the tree is good for fruit, a tree to be desired to make one wise.

  #59 | 42:23 to 43:28 | cleaned

• She looks, she lusts, she takes, and she gives to her husband. Now why? Look what the serpent said in verse 5. "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Now, I've told you before that the Hebrew word for knowing, in verse 5, has the force of determining. You shall be as gods determining good and evil. In other words, God, in Genesis 1 and 2, has laid down the law for Adam and Eve.

  #60 | 43:29 to 44:05 | cleaned

• "Here's what you shall do. Here's what you shall not do." When you get to Genesis chapter 3, here is the temptation. "You don't have to obey God. You can be your own God. You can make your own laws. Adam, are you content with being vice president of this garden? Why? You can be president. You don't have to be vice president. You can run things the way you want to run them. You don't have to listen to God. You can be your own God." Now, the fall was brought about when Adam and Eve tried to impose their will upon creation. Adam was no longer content to be under God and to be vice president. Now he wanted to be president and he wanted to be over God. Now let me tell you about Genesis 3 and verse 5.

  #61 | 44:06 to 45:05 | cleaned

• I'll use a long philosophical term and then I'll explain it. In philosophy, you have a phrase known as Aristotelian Auditorianism. And all that means is this, that Aristotle, one of the Greek philosophers, taught that the world was a huge auditorium and that anything could happen. In other words, what Aristotle was teaching was an open system. An open system in which any and everything could happen. It could happen by chance, by love, by faith, by anything could happen.

  #62 | 45:05 to 45:53 | cleaned

• Why, you know, a gnat might even mate with a camel. That's what an open system is. Why, you might actually find something to turn lead into gold. That's an open system. The Bible does not teach an open system. The Bible teaches a closed system. You know what's going to happen in this world. Let me tell you what's going to happen. Exactly what God has ordained and nothing else.

  #63 | 45:53 to 46:25 | cleaned

• If you want to waste your time trying to cross a monkey and a donkey, have at it. Why would you waste your time doing that which God says cannot be done? Why don't you spend your time doing that which God says can be done? And so here the serpent is saying, "Well, you can become gods." It is impossible for man to be a god. Man is a creature. He is not now a god. He never has been a god. And contrary to Mormonism, he never will be a god. There's only one God.

  #64 | 46:29 to 47:10 | cleaned

• So the Bible teaches a closed system. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 5. And I want you to look at verse 12. I want you to see what happened when man attempted to impose his will upon creation. Look in Romans chapter 5. You could then go back to Genesis 3 if you wanted to, but look in Romans 5 and verse 12. Romans 5 verse 12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Now look at that. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men." Now look, "for all sinned." It's an aorist. It happened once and for all. When did all of us sin? And the answer is, we all sinned in Adam. We fell. Now, if you want to go back in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. Look if you would please.

  #65 | 47:14 to 48:29 | cleaned

• Beginning there with verse 15. Genesis 3 verse 15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." When Adam tried to impose his will upon creation, he brought forth death, death to himself, death to his posterity.

  #66 | 48:32 to 49:39 | cleaned

• You know what happens in this world when a family, when a church, when a state tries to impose its will upon creation, and they try to live the way they think they ought to live, irrespective of God and His Word, they produce death. Our Lord said it very plainly. I'll quote it again. He said it in Proverbs 8 and verse 36. "But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." Let me give you a quote and then I want to make an application.

  #67 | 49:41 to 50:29 | cleaned

• Most of you have read George Orwell's writings. If you have it, I would encourage you to read some of his writings. I especially like Napoleon and Snowball the pigs on the animal farm. But George Orwell wrote the book 1984. And George Orwell was not a Christian. But he saw the meaning of life without God. And in 1984, he said this. Listen carefully. "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever. Are you listening? Without God, His law, and an orderly way, all a family can bring forth is death. Without God, His law, and an orderly way, all a church can bring forth is death. Without God and His law and His orderly way, the only thing a state can bring forth is death. Without God and His Word, all we produce is a society of death.

  #68 | 50:33 to 52:25 | cleaned

• As our Lord said, "He that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate Me love death." What has happened to the family in our day and time? It basically has been destroyed. The basic family unit for all practical purposes is dead. Because most families are anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible. You know why we're in the trouble politically in this country that we're in today? The reason our country is in such a mess is because our families are in such a mess. And that shows you why our churches are in the mess, because our families are in the mess. Whatever happens to the family ultimately happens in the church and in the state.

  #69 | 52:27 to 53:36 | cleaned

• God created us for His honor and His glory and to exercise our callings under Him and to extend dominion, bring creation into submission and subjection to Him and His Word. And as we do so, there's peace and prosperity and happiness and fulfillment. But without that, there's nothing but death. Our Lord said, "Without Me, ye can do how much? Nothing." We must have God-centered families. Let's pray.

  #70 | 53:41 to 54:31 | cleaned

• Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ today that You would help us. Lord, that You would teach us and Lord, that You would enable us to determine in our own hearts that we'll be godly husbands and wives and godly children. And Lord, we'd be godly in our callings and do whatever we do, Lord, for Your honor and Your glory. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray, Amen.

  #71 | 54:32 to 55:05 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T12:53:48Z