24-0114a Transcript

Preacher: Scott Reynolds

(3:23) It’s hard to believe by the way we’re on the seventh (3:27) of the seven threats that we began. I had to look it up way back in July of last year. (3:34) The beginning of the seven threats from Del Tackett and I’ve been thinking about what to do (3:43) afterwards.

There is one more webinar that Del did on the series after the seventh threat. It’s (3:52) where do we go from here and I’m going to present that the next time I’m up. (3:57) And then what I thought I might do is then begin a series on the truth project or (4:07) a building a Christian worldview because that’s what our world is sorely missing (4:16) well throughout time but especially now.

If anyone can see that our culture and not just America but (4:27) the whole of culture throughout the world is totally bizarre just in just a few years. I mean (4:38) it was getting bad but they took a jump now and it’s amazing. At any rate we’ve been (4:48) bringing to you a series of webinars entitled the seven threats of our time by Dr. Del Tackett (4:56) the author of the truth project and the engagement project and today we’re going to cover (5:01) the seventh session of the seven threats called the attack upon the biblical family and Del begins (5:09) and remember this was a webinar and so it sounds like this.

Well welcome everybody and thank you (5:17) for joining us for what I think quite frankly is probably the greatest threat to our culture. (5:25) If you’ve been along I wrote that I entitled the perfect storm. (5:33) Taking that from the movie and what the journalists who wrote about the great storm (5:39) that occurred off the Atlantic coast a number of years ago in which a number of fishermen perished.

(5:46) It was when all those storm fronts came together at the right time or the wrong time depending on (5:53) how you want to say that and so I believe that there are seven threats that are converging upon (5:59) western culture in particular on our culture here and again you may see more than that or you may (6:07) see other threats that you think should be have been mentioned and these are the seven that I felt (6:13) led to lay before us and if you’ve walked along together with us we walked through the first six.

(6:22) The first one the rise of the scoffer and the depraved mind which if the lord has given us (6:28) over to a depraved mind then it absolutely changes how we see the culture around us (6:35) how we interact with the culture and a number of things.

Then we looked at number two the rise (6:41) of homo deus and neo-Christianity and all of these are important all of these actually lead up to our (6:50) topic today but the rise of this notion that the individual has some sort of divine murmurings (6:57) within their own heart that tells them, for instance, they are a woman and whatever that (7:04) whatever that does and that proclamation is to be viewed as divine and that we must bow down to it (7:12) and that of course has affected Christianity.

And then another critical one for our culture (7:19) that we looked at was number three the loss of the noble male and the virtuous female and the rise (7:26) of malevolent or evil compassion and this is also critical for us today and and in our look at the (7:36) family and the attack on the biblical family

Then we looked at the consolidation number four (7:43) of massive earthly power and the strange thing that’s going on in our culture today (7:49) where we have no longer just simply the state being the massive earthly power that it normally (7:56) is throughout history that is consolidating everything underneath itself but we have the rise (8:02) of all kinds of powers represented primarily in the technological industry world powers (8:11) they can shut off you they shut you off financially and so forth and riding on top of (8:17) that is this harlot, the rise of malevolent compassion as we talked about earlier that (8:26) is driving everything that’s the ethic that is driving today’s culture.

And then we looked at (8:34) the rise of the demonic worldview, which is a marxist based worldview that is probably the most (8:43) active within our culture today that is driving us apart pointing fingers pitting people against (8:51) each other and then the last time we looked at the state of america and that we’re certainly (8:57) no longer the pioneer people we used to be but we are soft we get depressed and despondent if (9:05) someone doesn’t use our pronoun we’re dependent as we are filled with all kinds of addictions (9:12)

And so, that is the great basis for where we move today and looking upon number seven the attack (9:20) that is confronting the biblical family. And I’m saying biblical family rather than the attack (9:27) upon the family because the word family today has been so distorted and so changed and twisted. (9:35) So, we’re talking about the attack on the on the biblical family.

Now, I took liberty to lay (9:41) a proverb before you I don’t think it’s out of context I think in fact it’s greatly in context (9:50) and we talk about the attack on as we talk about the attack on the biblical family that (9:57) where there is no vision the people perish, Proverbs 29 18. And I’m absolutely convinced, (10:06) we’ll address this at the very end, which will be tonight by the way, that the family, the Christian (10:11) family does not have a vision. We don’t teach a vision to the Christian family. We deal primarily (10:19) with people as individuals. We don’t address the family nor the vision of the family, I think, (10:26) because of that there are great pathologies even within the Christian family. And because (10:32) the Christian family is not vibrant and healthy and strong, we do not present much of an attractiveness (10:39) to the world around us for people who would want to walk in that way.

So let’s begin with this (10:46) proclamation, so to speak, that in God’s design and I would say, in the design of the human (10:56) social order of God’s design the family carries the deepest and most intimate of human relationships (11:05) of all of creation. Now we talked about this in the engagement project for those of you (11:10) who have gone through that or have been involved in that at all and that the ultimate scheme (11:17) Satan’s ultimate scheme is to destroy relationships.

So we spend a long time (11:29) in the engagement project talking about that and why it is so, (11:36) but this is his ultimate scheme to destroy relationships. Well, if in God’s design, the (11:44) family carries the deepest and most intimate of human relationships in all creation (11:48) which I believe it does and I don’t think there’s much of an argument about that. And I’m talking (11:54) about the relationship we have with God. I’m talking about the human relationships that we find here, (12:02) then it should not surprise us that this institution of God is under its greatest attack,

(12:08) and I believe, in the history of man. So the biblical family then is at the heart of a culture. (12:15) In fact, it is the heart of a culture. And if you can destroy the biblical family then you can (12:23) destroy the culture. So this attack upon the biblical family is important for us to look at (12:29) to understand the immensity of the attack and the depth of that attack in order to do that then (12:37) it’s important for us to go back to look at the very beginning when God created the family (12:43) when he created everything.

And so we’re going back to the garden. (12:49) And we do so in good company because if you recall, when Jesus was asked a question in (12:56) Matthew 19 verses 3 through 5, remember they were trying to trap him, to test him. And when Jesus was (13:03) asked the question, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason," Jesus responded (13:12) by taking them back to the garden, "Haven’t you read," he replied, "that in the beginning the creator (13:20) made them male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother (13:26) and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh."

He took them back to the beginning, to the (13:34) fundamental reason for which God made them male and female. He said, "for this reason therefore (13:44) a man will leave his father and mother uniting with his wife to become one flesh" And then we (13:52) read in Malachi chapter 2 verse 11 the same reasoning in talking about the husband and (13:59) wife Malachi says, "Did he not make them one" with this portion and listen to this because it’s only (14:08) in the new testament that I was aware that the scriptures talked about God putting his spirit (14:15) inside us, but look at Malachi, "Did he not make them one with this portion of the spirit and their union."

(14:24) And what was God seeking? Malachi answers that, "Godly offspring." And so here we have a glimpse (14:33) into his design of the family. The purpose for male and female, God making them male and female, that (14:41) they would become united. They would become one and that one would produce a Godly offspring. (14:49) So if we look then at what God did in the garden in the creative process, He created all creatures (14:57) and He created the entire universe, I believe, to be creative agents or another way of saying that (15:03) is to be fruitful agents.

Even the sun declares the glory of God. Why? Because it produces fruit, (15:12) the fruit of sunshine and all of these are in relationships. So the buck and the doe produce (15:18) fawns, the flowers and bees and all the intricate pieces and parts that make up the systems (15:24) associated with, not only the plants and animals and human beings but all creation, everything is (15:32) bound up in some sort of a relationship with another diverse piece and part, all for the purpose (15:40) of doing something higher than just what the individual pieces can do.

And so this brings us (15:48) back to the very nature and the very character of God. And I want you to consider the family here, (15:55) the biblical family, as God created it and look at the relationship and the image and the work of God (16:03) as he created the family in light of his own character.

That God is one, we looked at this last (16:12) time but it’s good to refresh oneself with it again. God is one yet he is socially complex. He (16:20) is a triune, that is, three-in-one God of distinct persons and yet they come together in a oneness (16:29) there. He is a relational God. He made the family to be a relational institution where we have unity (16:36) and diversity.

And the most diverse aspect of humanity is the male and female. And God brought (16:45) them together in a unity and a oneness that was to bring glory to Him. We talked last time about (16:54) the modus operandi of God. It’s important to look at it again because the modus (17:02) operandi of God that we see in all of his creative work is He created his creatures, He equipped them (17:10) and empowered them and He sent them and charged them to be fruitful. We see those words spoken (17:20) directly to Adam and Eve when I read it, and we see them spoken again (17:27) after the flood, as Roger read, and we see them spoken several times in the scripture.

(17:33) And throughout scripture we see this notion of fruitfulness as being the blessing of God (17:41) and the fruitfulness as it comes from God’s creatures when they are obeying Him. (17:52) Of course, man is the only creature that disobeys God, but they are fruitful and they bring glory to (18:04) God. The scripture also talks about when people are not obeying God, when they are not following Him. (18:11) They become unfruitful.

This is the modus operandi of God. Why? Because it is the fruit, (18:23) the outcome, the production that brings God’s glory. As Jesus said, "By this is my father glorified that (18:33) you bear much fruit." Well, what we know is that Satan is opposed to God and he hates God’s nature, (18:42) hates his character and his attributes, and so this whole modus operandi and everything that God is, (18:50) and everything that God has created to reflect his glory.

Satan hates and wants to (18:58) destroy all of that he wants to destroy the design of God in these institutions and he wants to (19:04) destroy the purpose of God in these institutions, which I would submit to you, is to bear forth fruit. (19:13) And so for those of you who’ve been through the Truth Project, we looked at God’s design (19:20) for social order. And I find six of these institutions that God has created. And yes, (19:26) seven, the triune God himself being the seventh.

I would put forth the family here at the center of (19:33) it all because, quite frankly, I’m convinced that it is the family, the biblical family, which is (19:40) the headwaters of all of God’s social institutions. And I would submit to you that every one of these (19:48) institutions, if it walks according to the blueprint that God made for it, its purpose is (19:54) to bring forth fruit or its purpose is to foster fruit in others. And the family is the headwaters (20:02) of all those institutions.

So let’s look, for example, at how the family is the headwaters for (20:09) the sphere of labor. The family produces children and how does the family influence (20:17) the sphere of labor? The family produces children who have a biblical work ethic. (20:24) The family produces children who are trustworthy workers. It produces those who are ethical (20:30) employees. It produces ethical owners who make ethical products by ethical means. (20:38) And for the state, the family produces righteous citizenry and it produces righteous statesmen (20:45) who lead with wisdom and righteousness. It is the fundamental heart of the community. (20:51) It’s ground zero.

And I believe for the command to love your neighbor, the family produces Godly (20:57) offspring who walk rightly before God. And the same is true for the church. Where do the people (21:05) come from? That Godly offspring as a part of the church. The family produces righteous worshipers (21:12) and righteous leaders. So the family and I know that there, you know, there is a totality of all (21:20) the things that happen in each of those institutions, but I want us to get a sense (21:25) of how critical the family is for the health of all of culture. Because, if you destroy the (21:32) family or distort it or twist it or undermine it or suppress it then what happens is we are (21:40) under great risk to find that the sphere of labor is filled with children who have a poor work ethic (21:47) or are lazy and unethical workers or no workers at all.

For example, my goodness, everybody’s trying (21:56) to get people to work. People don’t want to work anymore. I just got a pet peeve, one of my delights (22:02) is to be able to read the paper early in the morning. Well, I don’t get the paper early in the (22:07) morning, in fact, the last several days we haven’t gotten a paper at all. But now our paper, the (22:14) Gazette Telegraph, here in Colorado Springs is suffering from the same problem that we see (22:20) happen this weekend (And this weekend that he’s talking about happens to be by the way (22:25) july 4th of 2022 when the airlines had troubles uh because they had a shortage of pilots and had (22:33) to cancel or delay thousands and thousands of flights), so what we see happened this weekend (22:43) and the Fourth of July weekend with what happened that we don’t have enough pilots.

(22:49) We don’t have enough people, we’re suffering from that, this sphere of labor suffers from that, (22:56) and all of culture then suffers. Why don’t we have ethical employees (23:05) anymore? We have unethical employees. We have unethical owners who make unethical products (23:12) by unethical means.

We can look at the state when we are not producing a righteous citizenry (23:19) then we end up with an unrighteous citizenry that are violent. We saw this as well in the horrible (23:26) event in Highland Park in Illinois which happened to be, by the way, the exact same July 4th weekend in (23:33) 2022. Selfish self-centered wanting to be given everything apathetic as citizens, not (23:43) active citizens but apathetic as citizens dependent upon the state. Or unrighteous statesmen (23:51) who do not rule with righteousness or wisdom. And we don’t have families who are engaged with their (23:57) neighbors, loving their neighbor.

We have communities that are at war with each other. (24:02) There are no Godly offspring if the biblical family is destroyed. And I know that Godly (24:11) offspring, you could say, that you know people can come to Christ, but I’m talking about the (24:16) fundamental purpose of the family here, in raising up Godly children. The church then (24:25) increasingly is not populated with that Godly offspring. We end up becoming (24:33) more consumer worshipers or non-worshippers. And there is a plague upon the Christian church today (24:40) as we read story after story of leaders who are unrighteous.

Well if you destroy the family, you (24:47) can destroy all of culture. And if you, of course, the most active world view that we see (24:54) in our culture today, the world view of Marks and Engles pitting people against each other (25:01) as oppressors and oppressed in the Communist Manifesto. They were very open about it. They said. (25:09) "We openly declare that our ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all (25:19) existing social conditions."

Well how do you do that? And that is why Marxism has been known (25:27) famously for the statement, "abolish the family." And as we mentioned earlier in this, (25:35) that is permeating our culture. The Black Lives Matter website openly declaring themselves to be (25:42) followers of Marxism had on their website, initially, "abolished the family." Why? Because (25:48) that’s their world view. That’s what they’re after. That’s what they pursue. You abolish (25:54) the family so that you can begin to abolish each of these institutions.

So we’re (26:00) going to break here today and tonight we will be looking at the seventh threat: The Attack Upon the (26:08) Biblical Family, and talk about some of the things that we see happening around our culture today. (26:15) Like marriage increasingly is disfavored in our culture, sex outside of marriage is now the (26:23) preferred norm. Pornography is mainstream. Our public policies are contributing to the attack (26:30) on the family. Judicial decisions also including the Supreme Court. Addictions are destroying the (26:38) family. Feminism is destroying the virtuous female and the noble male. The attack upon human (26:45) sexuality like never before seen in the history of man. I dare somebody to find another period of (26:52) history that’s like what’s going on today. Deifying (27:02) one’s personal sexuality as the essence of oneself.

And we’re going to talk about more (27:09) of that tonight. We are not a people without hope. There are things we can do and God has a plan. And (27:17) that plan is the family. So come back tonight to get the rest of the story.

And we’re extending (27:24) the invitation now as we stand and sing