Let me encourage you now to take God's Word and turn to Genesis chapter 2. The book of Genesis and the chapter number 2 and we'll begin our reading at verse 15. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 15. Let's hear God's Word. The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 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. And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him and 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 on to 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 and help meet for him. 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 onto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. We'll end our reading At the natural break of the chapter there, at the verse 25, we'll unite again briefly in a word of prayer together. Our loving Father, in our Savior's blessed name, we come again to preach thy word. Lord, no matter how many weeks we come, we still feel it to be abnormal to be in this place today without a congregation of people before us. We thank Thee for the family of God. We rejoice, O God, O Father, that we are united to Christ. And no virus, no sickness, no government regulations will ever sever the union that is between us and Christ and between each another. Lord, our fellowship is with Christ and with God in Christ. And so we cry to thee that thou will bless our waiting souls. Encourage every heart, minister, instruct. May we be taught of the Lord as thy people. Bless, O God, now the preaching of thy word. Fill me with the Holy Ghost, I pray. And, grand Lord, now the smooth running of all things, for I commit it all into thy care, because I offer prayer and through the Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen. Last Lord's Day, we commenced a series of messages that I've entitled, Count Your Many Blessings. Back then, we thought about the blessing of fellowship, Christian fellowship that ought to mark the church of Jesus Christ. Well, today I want to preach a second message in that series, looking this Lord's Day at the blessing of family, the blessing of family. During the last weeks, I am sure that you have come again to appreciate the blessing of your family. During these weeks, for some people, you have been unable to interact with your sons, with your daughters, with brothers, with sisters, with grandchildren, and that has been a source of great distress to many. What we took for granted a few weeks ago, the kiss of a child, the hug of a grandchild, the handshake of a sibling, has now become precious in our estimation because of our inability to do such things presently. Family, with all of its members' oddities, and at times their internal frictions, is still a most precious blessing that God has given to any of us. Today I want to simply see what lessons we can learn from God's word about the family. It really is but a general message on the family today. So today I want us to count the blessing of family again. Let's count the blessing of family again. In the first instance, I want us to consider together the origin of the family, the origin of the family. Everyone who takes the Bible as their guide for practice and faith must believe that the Bible or the family is divine in its origin. As an institution, the family was instituted in the Garden of Eden by God. And it was instituted for the preservation of the human race and for the welfare and for the happiness of God's creatures. down through the millennium, it has stood the test of time. Though sin has corrupted it, yet sin has not yet destroyed the family unit. The family was God's first institution, his first earthly institution. Before there was ever a nation's government, before there was ever a church, before God ever instituted the church, he ordained marriage and the family as the basic building block of society. I know that because of what we read in Genesis chapter two. Genesis chapter two records for us the circumstances that led to the formation of the earth's first family. Now these opening chapters in the book of Genesis provide unparalleled clarity about the origins of many things in this world that we too often really think little about. The name Genesis itself means beginnings or beginnings. Origin. In Genesis we discover the beginning, the origin of the universe. Time, space, matter. These things are brought to our attention when we read, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We read about the beginning of human history. Mankind, Adam being born or brought out of the dust of the ground, formed from the dust of the ground, and then Eve from Adam's rib. We think about sin and also the great matter of redemption. In the book of Genesis we have the beginning of culture with customs and languages and nations being formed within the book of beginnings. But at the very center and at the very heart of human history we have the formation of the family. God having already created Adam on day six of creation brought the animals to Adam to be named by him. Among all the creatures within the animal kingdom, however, there was not found a help that was meet or suitable for Adam to converse with or to have fellowship with. in Genesis 2 and the verse 18 God said it is not good that man should be alone God therefore provided for Adam a wife Eve by name that met all the needs of Adam on a social emotional and an intimate level that bringing together of Adam and Eve by God, as we read in verse 22, God made he a woman and brought her on to the man. The bringing together of Adam and Eve by God saw to the formation of earth's first family consisting merely of a husband and of a wife. That was the first family. That unit, in the process of time, would be added to by the addition of sons and daughters to Adam and Eve's family. And thus began the population of the primitive earth. And so Genesis chapter 2 provides for us the historical record of earth's first family. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Then the addition of others into the family unit. Now in the book of Psalms, in Psalm 68, in the verse six, we read these words from the inspired pen man, the Psalmist David. He says there in Psalm 68, verse six, that God saideth the solitary in families. God saideth the solitary in families. the happiness, the solace and the development of the human race. God in his infinite wisdom has set each member of the human race into a particular family. All of us, at some stage of our lives, have had two parents. Conception is not possible without two opposite-sex parents coming together and procreating. And some of us have had the added blessing of being brought up in a family with brothers and sisters, though at times we may not have thought it to be such a blessing. But notice from these words in Psalm 68, in the verse number six, that it is God, the one who originated the family, the one who instituted the family in the Garden of Eden, is the one who sets us into our particular families. God setteth. He places us into families. And so, to dislike our family, to be severed from our family, to be fighting with other members of our families is certainly not God's original intention. You see, the dysfunctionality that we see in families today is a result of one thing, that of sin. It's not because there is a flaw in God's original design with respect to the family. No, rather, whenever Adam and Eve conversed and had fellowship prior to the fall, it was the happiest family on earth. They had fellowship, communion, joy and gladness. Not a sorrow, not a trouble, not a fear, not an anxiety within the family. It was a family where there was whole and complete and perfect harmony between a husband and between a wife. But then sin entered into the world and we don't have to go very far before we see families fighting even to the extent that one brother would murder another. And Cain murdering his brother Abel. The result was that a family would be severed. Cain would have to leave and become a vagabond. separated from mother and father and now they are heartbroken and it's all because Adam and Eve partook off the forbidden fruit, sin entered into the world and thereby a dysfunctionality arose and originated as a result of the fall. And so all of the conflict that we have in our families and all of the troubles and the trials that we have in our families can all be traced back to the fall, to this entrance of sin into this world. You know, maybe I'm speaking to a boy or a girl watching into the service today, and you maybe said something like this this week, I hate my brother. Maybe you said, I hate my sister. Maybe I'm speaking to a teenager and you said in recent days, I detest my parents. I detest them. Maybe you're an adult and you said in the past, I wish I had been born into a different family. Well, let me ask you, If that has been your thinking or if those have been your words, let me ask you, did God make a mistake when he set you into a particular family? Did he make a mistake? Because the psalmist said, the Lord setteth the solitary in families. This is God's doing. Did God make a mistake when he put you into your family? give you the parents that he gave you? Did God err in his wisdom when he gave you the parents or the siblings that he gave you? I would doubt that any would say yes to those questions. We know that God does not err, not even in the family into which we have been placed. God in his wisdom placed us into that family. Now sadly, as I've said, sin has corrupted many a family. And the outworking of that sin has been to the hurt and even to the destruction of many. Abuse, neglect, conflict, infighting, violence has been the experience for some. In the scripture we have many tragic stories about families which show the devastating effects of sin on the family. And so what is the remedy? What is the remedy for such horrendous things? Well, the remedy for such horrendous things that can happen in families is the gospel. Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel has within it the power to change the very nature of individuals. The gospel is enabled to change the nature of an abusive father. isn't able to change the nature of a neglectful mother, isn't able to change the nature of some worrying relative that you have, an individual that you've fallen out, even in the family circle, you see the gospel makes men and women, boys and girls, teenagers, new creatures in Jesus Christ. And it has the ability to unite families, to mend broken relationships, and to restore the fellowship between loved ones as much as it is possible in a fallen and in a sinful world. The answer to dysfunctionality within our families is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God in the gospel. To change the very nature, to change the very inclination, to change the very individual, the gospel is the answer. And so let us pray that the gospel will change our family members and bring our families to Christ. And so the origin of the family, the Garden of Eden, God bringing woman to man and instituting the very first family. But having considered the origin of the family, I want you to think in the second place with me about order within the family. Order within the family. For any business, teaching institution, government department, church, to work effectively and efficiently, There needs to be order that governs the actions and directs the affairs of those within the organization. Everybody doing their own thing will lead to disorder, and that will lead to chaos and to ineffectiveness. It will lead to conflict. It will lead to friction. It will lead to even severance if there is disorder. within those organizations. And so in the family, as a God-ordained institution, there needs to be order if it is to function properly. Now we are not left to speculate what that order is to be. The scriptures clearly stipulate what order is to exist within the family structure so that that family functions as God, as God intended it to function. See, each member has a part to play in family life. And the fullest happiness and blessedness of the home can be attained only when each family member's part is being faithfully fulfilled by them. Nobody taking another's place, or role, or responsibility, but everybody doing their part, fulfilling their function, taking up their responsibilities, engaged themselves in their duties. And thereby, the fullest happiness and blessedness comes to that family. The all-wise God has set forth in his word the differing roles and responsibilities of those within a family. And I want to bring them to your attention at this time. Let me address them firstly, those who are watching or listening in. Let me address husbands and fathers. God has placed the husband, the father, as the head of the home. And thus it is the husband, the father, who is to take the lead in the home. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23 informs us, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Those who reverse that order, with the wife, the mother being at the head of the home, clearly then violates God's revealed will for the order that is to exist within the family and to exist within a home. In God's creative order he made man first and he also made man to be the head of the home. Now headship implies authority. For there to be order and blessing in any home there must be authority in that home. God's authority must govern the home. And the Lord himself has given this authority first of all to the husband and to the father. However, this authority does not give the husband or the father the right to rule his home with tyranny and cruelty for his own advantage or for his own glory. When it comes to a husband's responsibility to his wife, There's one word that covers it all. That is the word love. Love. Ephesians 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. The husband's love for his wife will be expressed and demonstrated to her in two ways. It'll be expressed to her firstly by his words. By his word, the husband, out of love for his wife, will teach his wife in the ways of God. Yes, he'll encourage his wife, not discourage her. He'll comfort his wife. And even at times, if need be, He will reprove, yet with great tenderness, his wife. By his words, he will express his love. And secondly, by his deeds. By his deeds, the husband will demonstrate his love for his wife. He'll provide for her needs. Not her greed, but her needs. He will show great tenderness towards her, protecting her from danger and from temptation, from harm and from the reproach of others. He will be a good example to her. He'll trust her with the affairs of the home. Proverbs 31, verse 11, speaking of the virtuous woman, the heart of her husband does safely trust in her. And something else that needs to be said, He will show her His love by being faithful to her and the vows that He made to her the day that they were joined together in marriage. He will be faithful to her and to her alone. His love, like Christ's love for the church, is an exclusive love. And so his love for his wife will be an exclusive love, forsaking all others. Will he love her until death? Until death do us part. Vows taken, and yet vows for many broken. When it comes to a father's responsibility to his children, Then we are reminded in the Word of God that it is the Father's primary function to provide for the children. He's to provide for them, yes, physically. Food, clothes, a home to live in. Of course that is His responsibility, but also He is to provide for them spiritually. Every father has been made a priest. the priest of the home, prophet, priest, and king. And it is every father's responsibility to be the spiritual head of his home. He must not desert that authority, he must not set it aside, he must not abandon it, but it is the father's responsibility to be the spiritual head of the home. He must make the spiritual welfare of his wife and of his children his chiefest concern. not his secondary concern, but his chiefest concern, the spiritual well-being of the children and of his wife. He must be an example, an example in godliness, an example of righteousness. He is to be like Christ in the home, patient, loving, kind, gracious, courteous, tender-hearted, forgiving. Oh, are we like that, brethren? Now, for some, to be the spiritual head of the home, that is impossible. For while no fingers could be pointed at you with regard to the physical provision that you have ever made for your children, they've had the best, no doubt about that. No doubt that you've been a good father with regard to the physical well-being of your children, but when it comes to the spiritual provision, you as a father have been found wanting. either because you know not Christ, you've never been saved, you've never been converted, or today you're not walking with Christ, you're in a cold and you're in a backslidden state, and you're certainly not an example to those children that God gifted you with, that God entrusted you with, and so they're fathers listening to this service today, and you're found wanting with regard to the spiritual well-being of your children. You send them to Sunday school, no doubt about that, but you never go to church yourself. You're never at the prayer meeting on a Wednesday night. Even during the lockdown, opportunity. for us to gather together, Lord's Day morning, Lord's Day evening, at the Wednesday night, Bible study, and even that, where you don't even have to leave the comfort of your home, you couldn't even be bothered to join in at the service, and at the public worship service via this medium, and via this means, all the poverty of the soul, all the neglect, Father, the poor example that you've been, You're more concerned about counting the cows out in the field, bringing in the silage, than you are to be at the place of prayer, to get the family around the altar. You don't even have to come to church, and you still can't be bothered. There's been great neglect. May God search out the heart. May God search out your soul. And if there has been a lack then, get right with God today, because your offspring need you to be in fellowship with God and walking with God. Yes, they must provide for them spiritually and physically, but I say, Father, you are to discipline your children. You need to discipline your children. Proverbs 13, verse 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The disciplining of your children, not provoking them to wrath, but yet as Christ chastens us, so we must chasten and discipline our children And Father, it is not for you to hand that over to mother. It is your responsibility. As a father chasteneth his son, so God chasteneth us. But let me quickly address those who are wives and mothers since God has placed husbands, fathers at the head of the home, then a wife, along with the children of the home, if there are any, are to come under the care and the protection of the family head, who is accountable to God for those entrusted into his care. With regard to a wife's responsibility to her husband, the word submission could be used. Not a very popular word in the 21st century. Not a very palatable word to us who are self-willed and who are independent creatures by nature. And yet this is the word that God would use with regard to a wife's responsibility to her husband. There must be glad submission, ready submission. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 we read these words, Wise, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. As you submit yourself to the Lord in the same manner you are to submit yourself to your husband. What precisely does this mean? Well, the Greek word submit here in Ephesians 5 verse 22, the word hypotasio means to line up under, to line up under. It has the idea of placing oneself in a rank that is lower than another, but in no way does it mean inferiority. Neither does it demote the wife to some kind of second-class status within the home and within the marriage. This is the role that God ordained himself for wives after the fall in Genesis 6 verse 13. God said to Eve in Genesis chapter 3 and the verse 16, these words, 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. This is part of the consequences of the fall. The woman was to come under the leadership, under the care, under the rule of her particular husband. And therefore, for a family to function biblically, the wife is to be subject to the leadership of her husband. That submission is always made easier when her husband loves her as Christ loved the church. And so to you, who are husbands, and you would say my wife is rebellious, she doesn't submit to my rule, my care, she goes against my advice, makes choices of her own. I would say to you, are you loving your wife? as Christ loved the church, because when your wife understands and experiences love like that, then she'll gladly submit to you, to your direction, and to your counsel, and to your advice. When it comes to a mother's responsibility to her children, we are reminded in the word of God that the mother is to manage the home. 1 Timothy 5 verse 14, the younger woman were encouraged to marry, bear children, guide the house. Let me say, a Christian mother performing her duties about the home can do more good for the church and for a nation than many preachers can. See your value, mother. Mother in the home, see your value. See the tremendous impact that you can make within not only a family, not only in a community, but in a nation, and even in the church. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Many years ago in the south of England, was a minister of Christ whose duties often called him away from his home. He had a large family and he feared sometimes that he was paying little attention because of his many obligations to his family and to his children. One day he was about to go on one of his long journeys from home and he stood at the door halfway downstairs and he heard a voice in prayer. It was the voice of his wife, the mother of his children. He stood and he listened for a little time. He heard her pray for each of the children by name. And when she came to one name, Charles, she said these words, Lord, he has a daring spirit, whether for good or for evil, make it thine own. On hearing that prayer, the minister said to himself, it's all right, I can go and serve the Lord. It's all right with the children. That Charles, for whom prayer was offered, was none other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Who would dare say that that mother was not a Christian worker? She toiled in her home. She labored for her own children. She nurtured probably one of the greatest preachers the British Isles has ever heard. John Wesley, the firebrand founder of Methodism, testified that he learned more about Christianity from his mother than from all the theologians in England. So to all Christian mothers out there, who feel that your labors in the home are despised by some, belittled by others, even unappreciated by those within the family, I want to encourage you to continue to guide the home, to guide the house, and instill into your children the truths of God's word while you can. Henry Ward Beecher said, what our mother sings to the cradle, goes all the way down to the coffin. What about the children's responsibilities in the family? Well, I want to address them now, all sons and daughters. We stay in the book of Ephesians, this time the chapter number six in the opening verses. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth. Children are to obey and to honor their parents at every stage of life. Proverbs 23, verse 22. Harken on to thy father that begat thee, and despise not, the word is disrespect, hold in contempt, hold as insignificant. It says, despise not thy mother when she is old. And so a father should be treated with reverence and respect by the children within the home. and a mother should be treated with kindness and love by the children of the family. And so to all who are sons and daughters with parents still alive, let me ask you, how are you acting towards your parents? God bids you to love them, to respect them, to honor them, both in public as well as in private. Are you doing that? learn from Christ's own example. When he lived in Nazareth, he submitted to his earthly father and his mother's care. And when he came to die, he respected his mother and showed tender care towards her by entrusting her into the guardianship and care of the apostle John. respected, honored, and obeyed his parents. And so should we. One final thought. We've thought about the origin of the family. We've thought about order within the family. Let me think and say a few remarks about opposition to the family. Opposition to the family. We are living in the last days. And nothing shows that more graphically than the deterioration within the family. In 2 Timothy chapter three, we are told that in the last days, perilous times shall come. And those last days will be marked when men, among many other things, will be disobedient to parents. The family unit, as God intended it to be, is under immense attack today from many quarters. As we look around us, we see marriage being destroyed by liberal governments and by the sodomite movement. We see the number of children born out of wedlock skyrocketing. We see cohabiting before marriage being the norm, even the expectation. And this is not even to talk of divorce. which results in homes being broken from the Lord's original intent that no one should reign asunder that which is joined together. Turn on the television and you'll see picture after picture of society's disordered plan for the family, society's unbiblical redefinition of the family and society's vision of how the family, the modern family, needs to evolve with the times. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, whether we like it or not, a breakdown in home life will eventually lead to a breakdown everywhere. Once the family idea, the family unit, the family life is broken up, once that goes, soon you will have no other allegiance. As Christians, we need to realize that all attacks on the family originate from the one who was quick to strike out against God and his perfect creation in the garden of Eden, the devil. It is Satan's goal to destroy the family. Let me be very blunt. Let me be very direct. Let me be very clear. It is the devil's goal, target, aim, desire to destroy the family. Because when you destroy the family, then you destroy society as a whole. What did we read in Psalm 11 and the verse number 3? If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? And if our society and the foundation upon which our society is grounded upon, or ought to be grounded upon, the Bible or all that is in the Bible, including the family, if that be destroyed, what will the righteous ever be able to do? The wicked one has waged war in the home through the legalization of same-sex unions, Convincing people that marriage is an outdated idea. And that cohabiting is now the new norm, as well as making divorce so easy. When it comes to children in the home, approximately 23% of all pregnancies in Great Britain currently end in abortion. And so there has been the wholesale destruction of a generation through the wicked procedure of abortion. The devil wants to destroy the family. But let me say it, and let me be clear, and let me be specific, the devil wants to destroy your family, your home, your marriage. So what are we to do against such a formidable foe with such a desire whose aim it is to destroy our families and our homes and our marriages? well we ought to resist him we ought to resist him and this we are encouraged to do in the scriptures james 4 verse 7 submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you ephesians 4 24 7 we read neither give place to the devil Ephesians 6 verse 11 put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil first Peter 5 verse 8 and 9 be sober be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. The Christian home, the Christian family, is to be on the offensive when it comes to the attacks of the devil on the family. We must pray for our families. We must be aware of his plots and his ploys and put out sin when it first makes the appearance within our homes. We're to walk closely with God and we are to instruct all those under our care to the truths of God as they are found in God's word. All of these things, when employed by us, will enable us to resist the devil. So why are you using them? Did you pray for your family today? Did you pray for their protection? Did you pray for their salvation? Did you pray for their sanctifying? Did you pray for their growth and grace? If they know Christ, have you been praying for the family today? Oh, may God help us. to understand that we are on a war footing with the wicked one, and his targets and his aim and his crosshairs are aimed towards your family, your home, your marriage. Christian, be sober, be vigilant, Because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. May God protect our homes, and may we know the hedging about of us by precious blood. Family. It's one of life's blessings, especially when a family is a Christian family. Let us cherish our families and see to the winning of each of us members to the Lord Jesus Christ. Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Brother, sister, count the blessing of family. And may God be pleased to bring each of the family to know Christ. If you know not Christ, well, let me encourage you to join the family of God today. Maybe your family is a dysfunctional family. Maybe sin has ravaged your family and yet, There's the family of God, God's family. And you can enter that family by the new birth. Repent of sin, believe the gospel, receive Christ as your savior. And thank God you'll have a father, a heavenly father who cares for you, an elder brother in Jesus Christ who is able to redeem and to rescue You have in the Spirit of God one who will comfort and sustain and help you on your Christian life, and then you'll have brothers and sisters in Christ who will encourage you and help you and strengthen you. Yes, and at times rebuke you. May God be pleased to bring you into the family, the family of God. For Christ's sake, amen.