24-0114p Transcript

Preacher: Scott Reynolds

(2:01) Good evening. (2:03) We’ve been bringing to you sessions of a webinar series entitled (2:07) The Seven Threats of Our Time by Del Tackett, (2:11) author of The Truth Project and The Engagement Project, (2:14) and today we’ll cover the last part of the seventh session of the seven threats called (2:21) The Attack Upon the Biblical Family. (2:25) The attack that is confronting the biblical family, (2:28) and I’m saying biblical family rather than the attack upon the family, (2:32) because the word family today has been so distorted and changed and twisted (2:37) that we’re talking about the attack on the biblical family, (2:41) but of all the social institutions designed by God, (2:46) I suppose none is under greater attack than the biblical family. (2:51) It shouldn’t surprise us, for destroying relationships is the ultimate scheme of Satan, (3:00) and it is here we find the most intimate.

(3:04) Indeed, it seems that the entirety of the world, the flesh and the enemy, (3:09) are today aligned against the biblical family, (3:13) and the family is at the heart of a culture. (3:17) In fact, it is the heart of a culture. (3:21) And if you can destroy the biblical family, then you can destroy the culture, (3:25) and so this attack upon the biblical family is important for us to look at (3:31) to understand the immensity of that attack and the depth of that attack.

(3:37) In order to do that, then, we must go back to the beginning, as Jesus put it. (3:43) Some Pharisees came to him to test him, and they asked, (3:46) Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason? (3:52) Haven’t you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, (4:00) For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, (4:05) and the two will become one flesh, Matthew 19, 3 through 5. (4:11) Jesus was responding to an insincere question that was intended to trap him, (4:18) but it was a question about marriage. (4:20) So he took them back to the creation of male and female to answer it.

(4:26) And it is in that creation narrative that God reveals his purpose for creating them this way. (4:34) Adam was to be united to his wife, becoming one flesh. (4:38) Malachi reiterates this purpose.

(4:43) Did he not make them husband and wife, one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? (4:50) And what was God seeking? (4:52) Godly offspring, Malachi 2, 15. (4:56) What is drawn from these passages is radical in our culture today, (5:02) maybe even fighting words, (5:04) for it not only angers the culture around us, but angers even some Christians. (5:12) The reason God made male and female was for the purpose of bringing them together into a divine unity, (5:20) a oneness that brings our thoughts to the unity within the triune God.

(5:27) And it was this unity of the male and female that would bring forth godly fruit. (5:34) We certainly are not animals, but we see the same purpose of God for them as well. (5:41) After creating the animals, male and female, he charged them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

(5:48) This is the same language given to Adam and Eve after they were created. (5:52) And it is here that we find the fundamental purpose for God creating us, male and female, (5:57) rather than some androgynous being. (6:04) Any understanding of human sexuality outside of this context leads to serious error.

(6:13) In contrast, today we believe that one’s sexuality stands on its own (6:18) and becomes in large part the essence of my identity. (6:23) This is the same message heard in Ellen Reddy’s famous song, (6:28) I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman. (6:33) Reddy’s view is one that has become all-pervasive throughout our culture today.

(6:40) It has severed human sexuality completely from the context and the design of the family. (6:49) The prevailing view is that the individual and their sexuality is a private, personal, (6:57) and fundamental aspect of their identity, and it has nothing to do with marriage or family. (7:05) The biblical worldview has no place for this notion.

(7:10) Nowhere does the scripture lead us to think that your human sexuality is the essence of your identity. (7:18) And when we disconnect human sexuality from its divine context, (7:23) we then begin to think we can redefine not only marriage and the family, but also human sexuality. (7:31) So, Miley Cyrus can declare that she is pansexual, (7:36) believing she can be male or female or anything in between, anytime she chooses.

(7:42) Men and women, now even little boys and girls, (7:47) can declare themselves something other than their biological sexuality. (7:52) We can make up our own personal pronouns, and in the most appalling example, (7:58) get our dads and moms put in jail if they don’t address us as such. (8:04) Why? Because we selfishly declare our sexuality to be the essence of who I am.

(8:11) This sexual disconnect also degrades sex and causes it to descend into nothing more than a commercial product (8:20) or a casual hookup and nothing more. (8:26) I can bend it, mold it, use it, exploit it, all for my own pleasure and purposes. (8:33) Anything, therefore, that attacks human sexuality is ultimately an attack upon the family.

(8:42) When Marx and Engels declared, abolish the family, (8:46) their worldview reflected the heart of Satan’s strategy to destroy relationships (8:53) because that attacks the very heart of the nature of God. (8:58) This includes the destruction of every other social institution (9:03) because they also carry the relational design of God. (9:09) But the family is the headwaters of them all.

(9:14) It is the biblical family that produces children with a biblical work ethic. (9:19) It produces the hard workers and ethical employees and business owners that make ethical products. (9:25) It is the biblical family that produces a righteous citizenry and statesmen who lead with integrity.

(9:35) It is the biblical family that produces a moral society and all that it stands for. (9:41) So, destroy the biblical family and you destroy its culture. (9:48) When the Black Lives Matter website went up and its leaders announced that they were well-trained Marxists, (9:54) it wasn’t surprising to see abolish the family in a prominent place, (9:59) although it has since been taken down for public relations reasons.

(10:04) It remains their worldview’s fundamental objective. (10:10) Yet, one may argue that they don’t really have to do anything except sit back and watch (10:16) because we are destroying the families ourselves. (10:21) The attack upon the biblical family.

(10:25) We’re going to talk about that and talk about some of the things we see happening around our culture today. (10:35) Marriage is increasingly coming under disfavor. (10:38) And let me add the next one together as we talk about all media now presents sex outside of marriage as the preferred norm.

(10:52) Overall, when you look at how marriage is presented to our culture, (10:57) the mother is denigrated if she fulfills her role as a mother inside the home. (11:03) Hollywood has made having a baby without a husband fashionable. (11:07) The majority of babies born in our culture are now born to single women.

(11:15) There is a dissatisfaction that it is shown in terms of the roles that God has designed for the family (11:22) and the husband, the wife, and the children. (11:26) Movies and television, music and media all present sex outside marriage as the preferred norm. (11:33) Today, the traditional family is almost always presented in a negative light or not presented at all.

(11:42) And so marriage is becoming unfavorable, and we see that in a great way (11:46) as we find the young people increasingly turning away from the notion of being married. (11:54) They’re not turning away from the notion of having sex, (11:57) but they’re turning away from the notion of following the biblical design associated with human sexuality (12:05) and coming together as one and being a family. (12:10) Pornography now is mainstream in our culture.

(12:13) It’s one of those addictions we talked about last time that is ubiquitous throughout our culture. (12:21) That means it’s pervasive and everywhere. (12:24) It distorts and destroys the beauty and intimacy of divine marriage, yet it is rampant in our society.

(12:35) Ninety percent of young men in the U.S. watch porn videos regularly. (12:42) The U.S. is awash in pornography, and we flood the world with it. (12:47) Ninety percent of the world’s pornography is produced and exported from the U.S. (12:55) It’s a shame upon our culture.

(12:58) Of the top 15 websites accessed in the world, three are porn sites. (13:05) In a recent survey of young people to assess their view of things that were wrong to do, (13:12) using pornography was way down on the list. (13:16) Not recycling was rated as a much greater evil.

(13:23) Our public policies, like the welfare policies, encourage women to have babies without marriage. (13:30) I mentioned this at one point, and I’ll mention it again. (13:33) Starr Parker, for example, grew up as an African-American woman in the slums of a large city, (13:40) and it was the welfare policies that she says destroyed the black family.

(13:47) It encouraged unwed births, and the rate and the number of unwed births in our culture is staggering. (13:55) And in the black community, it’s around 70 percent. (14:00) In the white community, it is approaching 50 percent.

(14:04) This does not bode well for a healthy culture. (14:08) And the new tax laws encourage people to not get married. (14:13) Now, when I wrote the article several months ago, and that was November of 2021 when he wrote the article, (14:19) the attack on the biblical family, I made a point about the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade (14:27) that was made in 1971, where the court declared it right for a woman to kill her offspring, (14:34) and over 2,000 babies every day, millions and millions of babies, (14:41) that have been slaughtered at the altar of that decision and the altar of personal peace.

(14:48) This is the perspective of the family, the perspective of what is supposed to be godly offspring. (14:54) The perspective is that they are unwanted, that they cramp my plans, they step upon my script, (15:03) they give us, as one sign said in one of the protests, (15:09) that abortion gives us the freedom to have sex without the worry of pregnancy. (15:15) We talked about this last

time, which we need to mention again, (15:20) that addictions are destroying the family and our culture.

(15:24) Sexual addictions, addictions to all kinds of pleasure and entertainment. (15:28) How many families have I read about that have been destroyed by the addiction to gambling (15:35) or addiction to alcohol or drugs, whatever it is, those addictions of things (15:41) that have grabbed a hold of the people of our culture. (15:47) They do a lot of destruction, but at the heart of it, it destroys the family.

(15:52) It is almost impossible to assess the damage to marriage and families due to addictions. (15:59) Few families are not torn apart in some way by alcohol, drug, and other addictions, (16:05) including sexual addictions. (16:09) And then these last two, what happened back when we were looking at the threat number three, (16:17) the loss of the noble male and the loss of the virtuous female, (16:22) and the rise of malevolent compassion.

(16:25) We talked about feminism as an ism that arose in a culture (16:31) that wanted to destroy the notion of absolute truth. (16:36) And the male, the noble male, who was led by truth, wisdom, and righteousness, (16:42) and secondarily, by grace and compassion. (16:44) The female is led primarily by grace and compassion, (16:49) but those are all bridled or controlled by truth and wisdom and righteousness.

(16:55) When you remove truth and wisdom and righteousness, (16:59) the female then is led by a compassion that is no longer bridled by wisdom, (17:06) no longer bridled by truth, and that has become the malevolent or evil compassion. (17:15) That is now the number one ethic in our culture. (17:19) Virtually all of our policies, everybody appeals to compassion, (17:24) but it’s not a true compassion.

(17:27) It’s not one that leads to fruitfulness and righteousness. (17:31) It’s a compassion that is evil at its heart. (17:35) And so feminism is destroying the virtuous female and the noble male.

(17:42) The men today are being raised in a culture that basically says to the male, (17:49) if you want to be significant in this society, you must be more feminine. (17:56) In other words, you must be led by a compassion, an evil or malevolent compassion. (18:03) And so men are scrambling, scrambling, and you will see it.

(18:07) If you take note of this, you will see this. (18:09) Just watch some of our statesmen as they present things. (18:14) It is there.

(18:15) They’re stumbling over each other to show themselves to be more compassionate about this new bill. (18:23) And I will say that with, I think there is a proper concern for the notion of compassion (18:30) because God is compassionate. (18:33) It is an attribute of God, but I am not denigrating the notion of compassion.

(18:42) What I’m denigrating is this twisting of compassion into that which is unbridled, (18:49) is not controlled by truth and righteousness and wisdom, and it becomes malevolent. (18:56) And so all of that has led us, because it separated the notion of sex away from the biblical family, (19:04) and it became the fundamental aspect of who I am. (19:09) We’ll talk about that in a minute.

(19:11) And that brings us to the attack upon human sexuality. (19:17) Like never before, I believe, in the history of mankind. (19:22) So let’s look at these two together, and I’m going to offer three observations here regarding these two.

(19:29) Number one, feminism and the attack of human sexuality. (19:33) Number one, what is happening because of this is there is a disconnect between true human sexuality (19:41) and its divine purpose as it is rooted in the nature of God. (19:47) Disconnecting the reality of why God made us male and why God made us female (19:53) and made the institution of the family, (19:56) all of that has been disconnected in our drive to find my own personal significance in my own sexuality (20:06) so that it is disconnected.

(20:08) And number two, that feminism and the attack upon true human sexuality denigrates the roles within the biblical family. (20:20) This we saw early on as feminism really began to rise in our culture, (20:26) of the disgust that was evidenced and spoken about for the virtuous female. (20:32) She was denigrated.

(20:33) Even today, there is a disgust of the noble male. (20:37) We call him the toxic male. (20:40) And the true male today, if you want to be significant, as we said, you must therefore be more feminine.

(20:49) But it’s not true feminine. (20:51) It’s this malevolent kind of feminine. (20:54) And third, maybe this is the biggest of all, (20:58) this deifying of one’s personal sexuality as the essence of oneself.

(21:05) This itself has resulted in egregious, horrible things happening in our culture today. (21:14) I think back whenever I talk about this so that I thought I put it down, (21:20) and I think back to that Helen Reddy song, (21:23) I am strong, I’m invincible, I’m woman. (21:27) In that song, there is an elevation of who I am sexually as being the essence of who I am.

(21:34) And no longer connected to, I’m female in the relationship of how God made me in the relationship to the male and female. (21:44) The virtuous female and the noble male. (21:47) But now, something has happened.

(21:49) Human sexuality has become a private thing, a personal thing. (21:54) And it is a fundamental aspect of who I am, my identity. (22:00) It has nothing to do with marriage or family.

(22:03) It’s who I am. (22:04) And we see this. (22:05) I mean, this is the tip of everything we see happening.

(22:09) It’s the tip of the spear. (22:11) The transgenderism, homosexuality, pansexuality. (22:16) That Miley Cyrus who declares that she can be anything she wants to on the whole continuum of male to female (22:23) or anything in between, tossing out the notion of male and female.

(22:29) It’s now personal. (22:30) It’s all about me and making up my own pronoun. (22:34) It’s kind of the icing on the cake.

(22:37) If you want to look at it, you know, from a twisted perspective. (22:41) And I’m thinking of some of my Canadian friends, the father in Canada, (22:49) who was arrested because he refused to call his daughter by her male personal pronoun. (22:56) This is an egregious thing, again, a horrible thing that is happening in our culture.

(23:03) It all comes back again to this attack upon God’s design of human sexuality (23:09) and the design, therefore, of the family. (23:13) So this perspective is everywhere. (23:15) We see it everywhere.

(23:17) And it severs human sexuality from the context and the design of the family, the biblical worldview. (23:26) A biblical worldview has no place for this notion. (23:29) There is nowhere in Scripture where we’re allowed to think that our sexuality is the essence of our identity.

(23:39) Nowhere. (23:40) Nowhere will you find it. (23:42) It is anti-biblical.

(23:44) It is anti-social. (23:46) It goes against God’s design and, therefore, goes against what is good for our culture. (23:53) See, the biblical family still brings blessings.

(23:58) All of our studies show this. (24:00) Even today, in the midst of all of this, all of the positive social indicators in our culture are related to a strong family life. (24:15) That’s emotional wellness, psychological wellness, social health.

(24:19) Intact families provide the primary discriminator as to whether someone will be in poverty or out. (24:29) It’s one of those the things. (24:35) If you come from an intact family, odds are very low that you will end up in poverty.

(24:41) If you come from a dysfunctional family, a broken family, a family as we see everywhere, (24:49) on with mothers, kids being raised by a mom or a grandma and so forth, their rate of poverty is almost like a given to them. (24:59) And not only that, but gang members rarely come from intact families. (25:04) And it’s estimated that 80% of all crime is gang-related.

(25:10) So think for a minute. (25:12) Imagine. (25:13) This is a different imagine song.

(25:18) Don’t imagine there’s no hell or there’s no heaven. (25:24) Imagine a culture that is filled, again, with intact families, with children who are raised with a loving mom and dad, (25:35) raised with an understanding of who they are, raised with an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, (25:44) raised with an understanding of their responsibility to their neighbors around them, the responsibilities of a citizen, (25:51) the responsibility of a good, hard worker that is ethical, the responsibility within the church. (25:57) All of these things, think about what a culture would be like if that were the case.

(26:06) Okay, so now I want to give us a self-examination on the body of Christ and a little bit of a critique. (26:16) And I say this with all the loving concern that I can for the body of Christ. (26:23) My call from the very beginning in the Lord was to do everything I can to get the body of Christ healthy and vibrant.

(26:32) And that means that we have to look into the mirror sometimes. (26:36) Sometimes looking into the mirror reveals things that aren’t good. (26:41) If you look into the mirror and find that, as we found when we had a family reunion not long ago, (26:48) if people looked into the mirror and found out that they had a tick embedded on them, it’s an ugly thing.

(26:55) You don’t like that, but it’s better to find it than it is to let it go. (27:01) So here we go. (27:03) When it comes to the biblical family, our preaching seldom reinforces this institution.

(27:12) Our teaching seldom encourages biblical family. (27:16) Our congregants are spoken to as individuals, and our congregants are seldom, if ever, addressed as family. (27:26) And the church does not present a biblical vision for the family.

(27:30) And that’s why I put the proverb up in the beginning. (27:33) Without a vision, the people perish. (27:37) And I will be bold enough to say to you that without a vision, the biblical family perishes.

(27:43) And that is what we do not have, and that is what we’re trying to lay forward in the engagement project, (27:51) that it’s a biblical vision for the family. (27:55) It’s based upon the Lord’s command that we are to love our neighbor. (28:00) This is a family command, a mandate for the family.

(28:05) Families are people who live next door to each other. (28:08) It’s the royal law, as James calls it. (28:11) Paul put it this way.

(28:12) The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, (28:17) love your neighbor as yourself, Galatians 5.14. (28:21) And if you think about the vision of a family, a dad and a mom who are laying that vision before their children, (28:29) that they pray together as a family for Mrs. Smith, (28:33) a bitter old widow who lives across the street that nobody likes, (28:37) and to hear your children praying for Mrs. Smith, (28:42) oh God, please let Mrs. Smith say yes to our invitation to dinner. (28:48) Nobody loves Mr. Smith, God. (28:51) And then for your family, together, this common ministry and mission that you have together, (28:57) I believe it is what will bring the family together, (29:00) what will bolster the family having that kind of vision together (29:06) and understanding that the primary work of the kingdom has been entrusted to the common Christian family.

(29:15) We are not, this is my commentary, we are not all evangelists, but we are all family. (29:26) It’s the evangelist’s job to go out into the community and proclaim the gospel. (29:32) It’s the church’s job to nurture those who come to the Lord and do something with them (29:39) instead of going out there and trying to make more Christians losing the ones we just brought in.

(29:53) And then for your family, together, the common ministry and mission that you have together, (29:58) I believe it’s what will bring the family together, what will bolster the family having that kind of vision together (30:04) and understanding that the primary work of the kingdom has been entrusted to the common Christian family. (30:12) That is a vision that must be caught. (30:15) It’s a vision that must be played out or I have little hope for our culture.

(30:22) However, dear remnant, do not become hopeless. (30:25) Stand strong in the midst of all this. (30:27) Stand strong in the midst of all these threats that we see.

(30:31) Stay true to God’s Word and His design and His purposes. (30:38) Be noble males and virtuous females. (30:42) And raise up your young men and young women to be noble males and virtuous females.

(30:48) Concentrate on building and nurturing your family with a fierce determination (30:53) because the attacks of the enemy here are ever-present and relentless. (31:01) And not to go off on too much air, but I’m telling you, (31:05) we have to put a barrier between our children and the world, (31:09) and that primarily means you’ve got to put a barrier between them (31:14) and that

open door that the smartphone represents. (31:20) Okay, so lead your families in the common ministry of engaging your neighbors, (31:26) loving your neighbors around you.

(31:29) Don’t be fooled. (31:30) This attack is everywhere. (31:34) It’s like an evil smoke that silently slips under our doors, (31:38) penetrating everything everywhere.

(31:41) Yet the clear blessing of God’s design remains. (31:44) Nearly all of what we call positive social indicators are related to a strong family life, (31:51) from emotional wellness to psychological wellness to social wellness. (31:56) Intact families provide the primary discriminator to keep someone out of poverty.

(32:03) What would our society look like? (32:06) We’ve already asked, but I’m going to bring it up again. (32:10) Intact families living in the blessing of little poverty and little crime. (32:15) I grew up in such a place.

(32:17) It was extremely abnormal to find a broken or dysfunctional family. (32:22) No one locked their doors. (32:25) No one was afraid to walk the roads or the streets at night.

(32:28) And yet, as though we have some sort of suicidal wish, (32:33) all of the major players in our culture today are working to destroy the family, (32:40) from the media to the state to the subtle worldview messages that permeate our marketing world, (32:47) like the progressive insurance ads that seek to drive a wedge between children and parents. (32:55) I am reminded of the warning God gave to Israel (32:59) when they were brought into a land flowing with milk and honey. (33:03) Assembled between the two mountains, they were given the choice of either blessings or curses, (33:10) depending upon whether or not they would choose to follow God.

(33:14) It certainly seems as if we are pressed today with the same choice, (33:21) for nothing but curses awaits us along the road we are traveling. (33:28) How do we live in a culture like this, dear remnant? (33:31) Stand strong. Do not lose hope.

(33:33) Stay true to God’s word. (33:35) Be virtuous females and noble males (33:39) and concentrate on building and nurturing your family with a fierce determination (33:46) for the attacks of the enemy are ever-present and relentless. (33:53) That’s the end of the webinar series.

(33:58) There is one more I will bring. (34:01) Where do we go from here? (34:04) But at this time, if there’s anyone here who needs to respond to the invitation, (34:10) now’s the time to do so as we stand and sing.