When God created the world, he not only made all the things we see in the world, he also made a family and gave them a command - to make more families. As we trace the Bible's teaching on the family throughout the pages of scripture we see the beautiful plan of God for families in a broken world; He takes a man and woman, unites them in a covenant of love with each other, and instructs them to raise children. All to make his glory known and to be a picture displaying the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'd like to sort of take us to a theology of the family, a biblical theology of the family. This is gonna be a quick flyover, though, of that doctrine. I'll go very quickly, but I want us to recognize the beauty of what God has done. I'd like to explain the goodness of the Lord by taking us from Genesis through scripture to help us to see the golden mean, to see the beauty of it. We're seeing the distortions, but it's critical that we understand what the doctrine of the family looks like.

Here's what I pray this will be for you, that it will be a comfort to you. I pray that it will be a refuge for you in the midst of the world that we're living in. God uses family life to bring many sons to glory. It's such a glorious institution And as I go through these various passages of scripture, I just want you to enjoy it. Now, what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna call it pedagogically dull, because I'm just gonna walk you through the scriptures.

You might wanna take some of these passages of scripture down, but I want to just give a sense of the beauty of God in His bringing many sons to glory. The family is is an institution of love and His ways really are pleasant ways and all of his paths are peace. So I want us to settle in about that. We begin in Genesis. We begin in the first three chapters of Genesis and we find out that man is made as male and female and they're made to be married.

And what we know now that there really is only male and female, that every single cell in your body is coated with your gender. If you die and are buried and they dig up your body a hundred years later, they know whether you're a male or a female. Because everything about you declares whether you're a male or a female. By the way, there's no such thing as transgender. It doesn't exist.

It's fake. It's a fad. It doesn't exist. You either have XX chromosomes or XY chromosomes. You're either a male or a female.

That's it. That's all there is. Everything else is an illusion. And anyone who proclaims themselves to be that have proclaimed themselves to be living in an illusion man is made male and female and the two become one flesh God desires that there be a lifelong companionship between a man and a woman and that they would have the greatest experience that anyone can have to take dominion mingling husband and wife together to work together for their whole life long. It's so much fun.

And God brings a husband and wife together to do stuff together, to figure out how they're going to glorify God in the world. It's the most thrilling thing you can do is really to get married and try to figure out how you're going to bring glory to God in the world. This is God's design. And you raise children and you worship God. You find out that God designs a wife to be one with her husband and to be a keeper at home.

And the husband loves his wife like Christ loves the church. And he cares for her. He honors her, meaning that he puts himself under her. And the wife respects her husband. And she creates an environment of joy in the home.

You know, this is the doctrine of the family. It's remarkable that God would give a man a helper. A man needs help. How about that? Everybody knows that.

And God gives a woman who's comparable, who's different than she is to interpret and to beautify everything. That's what wives do. I remember when I was still single, and I had a house, and it was actually a warehouse, until Deborah moved in, and then everything became beautiful. It was amazing. I mean, even the food was beautiful.

Everything was beautified. The guy who would come home and eat graham crackers for dinner had these marvelous meals. It's because wives, they beautify everything. That's just their nature, men need that. And when you enter into the views of the family in the earliest parts of the Bible, you find a family worshiping together.

Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. In the opening scenes, they're worshiping together in the context of their family. They're offering sacrifices to God and they're working. And you see the same pattern with Noah and his family. You see Job and his family and Isaac and Jacob.

They're worshiping God and their families. As they're in their travels, they build altars to the Lord. That's what they do. They move from one place to another and they look up to heaven and they say, Lord, help us. They worship God.

Worship started in families. It was the very first place. And then God expanded that and he created worship in the tabernacle. He designed this place where God would come down, where actually the presence of God would be seen by the people. And God did a very interesting thing with the tabernacle.

He designed it that his glory would come down and everybody would know it, but He put a certain number of families to the north of the tabernacle and then he allocated another set of families to the east and the west and the south of the tabernacle and all of them had the responsibility for taking care of the worship of God. All the family's attentions were pointed toward the presence of God. Isn't that beautiful? That this is what a family does. It lifts its eyes up into the hills from whence their help comes.

A family looking to God for everything. And God comes down. And we talked about Deuteronomy six already where you have this picture of a father who loves God with his heart and the Word of God is in his heart he loves it and what does he do he can't help himself he teaches his children And he talks of the things of God when he sits in his house, when he walks by the way, when he lies down, and when he rises up. It's a beautiful picture of a man engaged in helpful, blessed relationship with his family. And God gives this methodology to a family so that they would be able to be kept from all the defilements in a pagan land.

That they wouldn't be ripped to shreds by the immorality of the Canaanites, that they would be held together in love, that they wouldn't do the things that would rip and shred their personalities and hurt their bodies and give them sexually transmitted diseases and all the afflictions of sin that takes place. In Genesis chapter 18, God reveals the purpose of Abraham's life. And it's very, it's fascinating because God explains Abraham, the purpose of Abraham's life almost like in a soliloquy. You know what a soliloquy is, you have a play and there's the main activity going on on the stage But then there's a voice on the outside that interprets. What's going on, and that's what you see in Genesis 18 and God says I've called him I've called him for a purpose Here's here's what I'm gonna do with this man, and he says I've known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they may keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

You know Abraham's walk by faith meant that he was going to command his children and he was gonna teach his children justice. That's what fathers are supposed to do. They're supposed to teach their children what justice looks like. Boy, do we need that today. What is true justice?

Well, the only place you can find it is in the Bible. And I'll attempt to talk about this at some length tomorrow about justice and injustice and sexual justice and reproductive justice and all the injustices that are being foisted upon us, falsely proclaimed. But God's plan for Abraham is that he would teach his children what was justice. Isn't that wonderful? You know, if you don't know your right hand from your left, it's a real problem if you don't know what justice and righteousness is.

And you can just see the love of God. He desires his children to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God. God is so kind. I hope you see the beautiful design of the family. You know, it is such a beneficial and helpful thing that God has done when he designed the family.

You know, in Exodus chapter 12, you actually find a family and they're sitting around and they're talking about deliverance, they're talking about how God is so mighty, how he rescued them from the bondage of Pharaoh, the abusive taskmaster of Pharaoh, who's a picture of Satan, that's what he does, he's an abusive taskmaster. And Moses commands the fathers to engage their children in a conversation. And they're supposed to be talking and celebrating about how God delivered them from the abusive taskmaster. And they take a lamb and in the narrative, God says pick out a lamb and take lambs for yourselves according to your families. And then he says, you know, when your children ask, what's this all about?

Then you get to tell them. You get to tell them how great God is. You get to tell them how Pharaoh never gives you rest, but God gives you rest. You wanna serve the devil, he will not let you rest, he will tear you up. That's what a father's supposed to do.

With that lamb there, you know, sacrificial lamb and the blood. God desires the family to be engaged in conversation. You see the same thing in Numbers chapter 30. It's a picture of headship in the home. And it's a picture where you have a family and there are two scenarios that are played in Numbers 30.

There's a daughter that wants to do something that her dad doesn't want her to do. And then also there's a wife that wants to do something that her husband doesn't want to do. But they've already done it. So what are you supposed to do about that? They already did it.

I mean, even the girl, the single girl, is contracted to be married. But her dad doesn't want her to marry this guy. And the wife has done something and she's transacted some commitment in oath, actually taken an oath, as serious as an oath. And what are they supposed to do, you know, now that they've contracted these commitments? And Moses says that, that husband, that father is a protector of his wife.

And that father can deliver that wife, deliver that daughter from the harmful oath that they took. It really sets a father, first of all, he's talking to his wife and his daughter, they're talking about things. And actually the husband and the father, he has to answer the question quickly, He can't just string them out. He's got to communicate with them. And, but it's a picture of real life being lived in a family and the conflicts that take place between husbands and wives and fathers and daughters.

And it gives a beautiful solution. It actually establishes authority in the home, but it also forces a father to actually be speaking to his daughter and his wife. To be talking about what's happening. It's a picture of communication. In the family, when you get to Joshua chapter 24, you have another beautiful picture of family life.

You know the passage, it's so famous. You know, Joshua says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And he, you know, he declares his headship over his house. He says, I own, this is mine. I have responsibility for this family, as for me and my house.

And then he protects their unity, and he says, we, We will serve the Lord. We're gonna be a unity. We're gonna walk together in this world. We're not gonna be fragmented, running off in every possible direction. We're gonna be a family.

We, we will serve the Lord. And then serve the Lord, he's declaring his desire to wrap his whole family in the worship of God to declare how wonderful God is. Just in that one statement in Joshua 24, he wraps up so much of the beauty of family life. You see this in the book of Job. You see, the book of Job actually opens up with a father who's managing his household well.

There's this declaration of his character. He was the richest man in the east. He was a remarkable man, transacting international business, remarkable resources, but what's most important about him is he's a dad. And you know what he cares about the most? About his grown children who have now left the home?

That they might fall into sin. He knows that sin is their greatest enemy. He cares about that the most. And so he cries out to them, and cries out for them. You know, when you get to the Psalms, you find many places where you see pictures of family life.

You know, one of the most famous chapters in the Bible, really, on family life is Psalm 78, Where you have this picture of a man telling the generation to come the praises of the Lord. Really to encourage his family about the greatness of God and the beauty of the kingdom of God. And I won't read it, the whole thing, but he says that fathers should arise and declare the great deeds of God that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments. You know what's it like to have hope? What's it like to be filled with hope?

You know, I'm a pastor, you know, I know, I know some of the greatest struggles in the people in any church I've ever been in was loss of hope. Well, that's my greatest struggle too, it is. And here you have the responsibility of a father to fill his children with hope, hoping God, not hoping this world, not hoping their success, but Hoping God, the only thing that lasts and matters, that their hope might rest in God. There's nothing more helpful to the soul than to trust in God in the midst of all the changes, all the tumults and trials and heartbreaks in this world. You know, if you don't have God, you don't have anything worthy to hold on to.

But God's, you just think about the beauty and the happiness that God desires for a family, where a father sets himself to communicate in such a way so that his children hope in God, in God alone. You know, children like that are strong. You know, wives like that are so much fun to live with, frankly. Wives that hope in God. Wives that haven't put all their trust in their husband.

Wives that haven't put all their trust in the resources they have. Wives that put their hope in God, they believe in God. There's nothing more thrilling and encouraging for a man to be married to a woman like that. I married a girl like that. You know, when she was growing up, her daddy taught her that God was sovereign, like really sovereign.

So this girl fills our home with hope every day. But you know, the design of God, you know, you go to Psalm 127 and you see this happy family because their hope is in God. And you know, Psalm 128, really the secret of happiness in the home is found there. And there's this picture of this family, and what are they doing? They're eating together.

They're just doing the simplest thing in life. And it says, you know, when you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you. And your wife will be like a fruitful vine. In the very heart of your house, your children, like olive plants, all around the table, behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. And, you know, happiness in a family isn't really dependent on wealth.

It's the ability to enjoy the simplest things, just the meal, just the food that God put on your plate. How many of you have had food put on your plate almost every day of your life? How about that? We live in America, there you go. Just the simplest thing, we take so for granted.

But God says with the simplest thing in the world, just eating the food that God gave you is all you need to be happy in this world. And God gives that enjoyment to families. You know in Psalm 145 you have one generation praising the Lord to another. In other words, you know, a grandfather grows up, he gets older and older, and he's praising God to the younger generation. You know, you have a grandfather spending his life helping his grandchildren hope in God so that they wouldn't get washed away by the trials in this world.

You see the beauty of family life? Do you see how beneficial it is? Why would we want to turn away from God's design? It's such a beautiful design. You know, in the book of Proverbs, you know, it's really a handbook on how to raise children.

The whole book. You have an entire book of the Bible written by a father, two fathers to raise their children. It's like a training manual. It's amazing. Touches almost every part of life.

You don't have to figure it out yourself in this world. Go to the book of Proverbs. You'll learn how to walk through this world in work, in relationships. Well, we're trying to memorize a passage of scripture about that. Oh, well how about that?

Yeah, yeah. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. There you go. You know, you get to the Song of Solomon, this beautiful picture of marriage, the double meaning of Christ in the church and the love of a husband and wife and in the prophets you find the same thing. You get to Malachi, the last prophet in the Bible and you see how God moves in a family through the blood of Jesus Christ and his salvation, where he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.

In other words, he does it. God is the one that turns your heart. That's the gospel. God turns your heart. He makes you love like you never could love before.

But it's by his spirit. It's by the spirit of Jesus Christ. He turns the hearts of the children toward their parents and the parents toward their children. It's a work of the spirit. It isn't primarily a discipline.

It's a work of grace in your heart. Isn't that wonderful? That God would do that for his families. He would plant the gospel and he would cause parents to love their children and children to love their parents. You know when you get to the New Testament, to me, things are so accelerated in the New Testament because you find, what you find in the New Testament are broken families everywhere.

Just like our families. Any brokenness in your family? Look to the New Testament, you'll find broken families everywhere. Over here, there's a woman caught in adultery. Over there is a woman who's had five husbands.

In another place, there's a father who's crying out for his demonized son. Another one's crying out because his daughter just died. And you have all the various experiences that families need to get through to heal. You know in 2 Timothy 1 you have a spiritual father who's mentoring a young man. By the way his name is Timothy, we don't even know, his father's never mentioned.

Most people think he was fatherless, his father died. And guess what? He gets a spiritual father. His name is Paul, and he's mentoring this young man. It's a picture, it actually, it's a beautiful picture, but it's a picture of a broken world in a family.

That's what it is. You know, you have this beautiful husband and wife, Priscilla and Aquila. I love this couple. I might just preach the whole rest of the sermon on Priscilla and Aquila. But you had this couple, you know, they had a church in their house.

And Paul says, they risked their neck for me. And then over here you see them there instructing Apollos because he hasn't got the gospel quite right. They were like a theological couple working together, you know. How fun was that? And you know, you have you know, you see children being converted in households, children growing up in paganism like in a place like Philippi.

And the whole, and everybody gets baptized. The whole family comes to the Lord. You know, you have older women teaching the younger women. Younger women fit full, you know, fretful about life, trying to figure it out, and there's an older woman saying, honey, let me show you the way. Don't worry.

God is in control. Here's what you should do. It's a picture of broken families everywhere in the New Testament and how God supplants you know even you even have children. You have children who wanna hear the Lord Jesus. These children, they wanna go jump in the lap of Jesus.

Well, the disciples say, oh no, no, no, he's too sophisticated for that. Well, Jesus isn't too sophisticated for that at all. You know, you have a child providing bread and fish to feed 5, 000. You know, there are just so many stories in the New Testament about how broken families are really ministered to by the Lord. You know those, remember those two sisters, their brother died?

And they're so broken up, they're crying. Lazarus, their brother died. And what does Jesus do? He cries with them. You know what?

When Jesus was crying with those sisters, He knew he was gonna raise that man out of the grave in just a few minutes, but he entered into their sorrow. He dropped right into their sorrow, and he cried with them even though he knew he was gonna raise them from the dead. Isn't that amazing? You know, most of us would say, hey, don't worry about it, I'm gonna raise him from the dead. Not Jesus, he enters into your sorrows.

He comes into the middle of your broken heart, of your broken family, and he enters in. This is the design of God for the family. You know, it's well known the Bible begins with a marriage and ends with a marriage. The very first miracle that Jesus performed was at a wedding in the middle of a family. And the wedding wasn't going that good.

They ran out of wine. You know, God wants to heal families. He does it in so many ways in the New Testament. You know he goes to husbands and he says, husbands love your wives. He says wives respect your husbands.

These children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Fathers, don't exasperate your children, but bring them up. In other words, don't make them angry, but you do everything you can to bring them up yourself. You take personal responsibility, don't delegate it, you do it. You have a personal relationship with your children, bring them up, help them get through.

It's such a beautiful picture of family life. You know, God has a design for the family, and it's a beautiful design. And the world wants to destroy it in every possible way. And that's one reason why we're calling this conference Hope for the Family, Navigating Through Cultural Chaos. You know what the answer is?

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Go do what he commanded you to do. Trust him. Don't be distracted by what the world is hanging out in front of you regarding a family. The best thing you can do is just obey God and have the family that God has designed.

And I really do pray that especially you young people, you see the beauty of the design. And you say, I wanna do that. I don't wanna do something different. I wanna do that. I want to be a helper.

I want to be a keeper at home. I want to have children. I want to bring them up in the training of the admonition of the Lord. I want to be a part of bringing many sons to glory. That's what I want to do.

I pray that that's in your heart. Well, I want to close with a poem. This is from the Valley of Vision. And it really summarizes so much of this beautiful doctrine of the family. And so here's how it reads, let those that are united to me in tender ties be precious in thy sight and devoted to thy glory.

Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion in other words the devotion to my family my domestic devotion my instruction my discipline my example that my house may be a nursery for heaven, my church, the garden of the Lord, enriched with trees of righteousness for thy planting for thy glory. Let not those of my family, who are amiable, moral, attractive, fall short of heaven at last. Grant that the promising appearances of tender conscience and a soft heart the alarms and delights of thy word be not finally blotted out but bring forth judgment into victory in all whom I love. Well, I pray that that would be all of our legacy. You know, I just wanted to lay out some of the high points, some of the mountain peaks of the doctrine of the family.

I hope it was beautiful to you. I hope it was helpful to see how good God is. I hope it was assisting you to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his ways. There's nothing better than God's ways. I commend them all to you And I pray that you would find all of your hope for your family in there.

Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for your beautiful commands. We thank you for the life-giving ways that you have. Lord, in the midst of the world, that's disfiguring them all, that we would cleave to them, that we'd be a faithful people, that we would bring our children up in the training and the admonition of the Lord, that we would set our hearts to bring many sons to glory, that every single person here would be preparing themselves to glorify you whether they're going to be married or not they can glorify you in all these different ways Lord and I pray that you would give us such a vision for that Lord preserve your glory in the world through this great institution called the family. Amen.