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So before I preach a sermon, just a quick update. So last week I preached on Matthew 28. We finished a whole book of Matthew, a hope that helps you understand the gospel a little bit clearer, maybe some of the challenging passages, maybe some of those things got answered as we were going through verse by verse through that book. I was kind of thinking, what do I go through now? Do I take another book? Do I work through another book? What I've decided to do for now is I do have a series that I preached up in Queensland probably over a year ago. It was a series on the family, okay? Series on the family. It's something that I really, I love families, okay? I'm a family man, right? My wife, we've got 10 kids, you know, I love being in a family. People recognize that I've always been a man, not after a career, though I've done pretty well sometimes, but it's always been the family that's been my focus. I did not have a family to get into the ministry. My family has allowed me to get into the ministry. It's given me the opportunity to do that and a lot of pastors, a lot of people make a mistake. They want to be a pastor and now they've got a checklist. They've got to get married, they've got to have kids and the reason they do it is because they want to get into the ministry, whereas that shouldn't be the way you think about it. It shouldn't be, hey, I just want to be a man. I just want to do that according to what God's word says. I want to live life a little bit, get some experiences and through my experiences I can then maybe take that and become a pastor, become a leader in the church. That's the right way to do things, all right? And so it's important for us to go through a series on the family simply because this world hates the institution of the family, okay? And this world hates what it means to be a man, for a man to be a man. This world hates, you know, for women to be feminine, you know, they hate women to be women. They want women to be more like men and they want men to be more like women, okay? That's what's been drummed down, our children, you know, in the public schools, in the media, in the TV shows. Now, it's, hey, look, why the distinctions? They're trying to blur the distinctions and as we'll see, God has an institution for family and he wants clear distinctions between a man, a woman, and the children, okay? So this will be a lengthy series, maybe 10 or 11 sermons, okay, but it's not all just about the family. Today I'm just going to be focusing on the man, okay? The man, the single man, and also, you know, as he goes into being a family man as well. But look at Genesis chapter 2, verse number 7, please, Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. The Bible says, and the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground. The title for the sermon tonight is God formed man, okay? God created a man, all right? So if you're a man today, you need to understand that God created you just the way you are, physically the way you are, and he's also put DNA, he's put instincts into you in order for you to live out a life that's according to his will, okay? He doesn't want you to live out a life as a woman, okay? He doesn't want you to live a life and remain a child. He wants you to grow up and be a man. And so we're going to be using Genesis chapter 2 as our sort of our main chapter that we build on, but we will be looking at several verses as well besides from here. But something that I've learned as just growing up and being a family man, just working, you know, growing up from a child to a teenager, to being a man, one thing that I noticed that lines up with the word of God is that God has given many instructions of how we ought to live our lives, of the things that we need to be aiming for to be faithful men of God. And the truth is we don't even need the Bible to tell us these things. It's already in your nature, okay? It's what's going to give you the greatest satisfaction as a man. In fact, the things that God lays out is just going to give you joy in life. And when you're not walking in accordance to God's word, you're going to find your life unsatisfied, you're going to find a lack of joy in your life, a lack of satisfaction. And so it's important for us to go back to the word of God and see what does God have to say about, you know, what men ought to do, how men ought to act. And there are three key points that I'll be looking at today for a man. If you're a man, you can say to me, pastor, you know, I'm not satisfied in life. I'm not happy in life. Well, I hope you can focus on these three points. Do the best you can at these three points. And I'm sure you're going to find the joy of the Lord. I'm sure you're going to find great satisfaction as you live your life. And the first point that I have, look at Genesis chapter two, verse 15. What happens once God creates Adam, remember, he creates man and woman on day number six. But day number six is day number one for Adam, as far as when he's alive. What does God do on day one of Adam's life? They just say, Adam, go play the Xbox. You know, Adam, go kick a ball and kick it into the goals or, you know, go slam dunk that hoop. You know, was that the goal for Adam, you know, from God's perspective? Look at verse number 15. Day number one, guys, verse number 15. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Day number one of Adam's life, God says, I'm giving you a job. You're employed. I'm your boss. You're my employee, Adam. You're going to be looking after the Garden of Eden. You need to dress it. You need to keep it. He became a gardener. The very first job that a man took was that of gardening, right? And this is important because point number one for a man to be satisfied, point number one for a man to find joy is for men to work, to work a job. You say, but it's hard to work a job. It doesn't matter if it's hard, okay? When you do things that are hard, and you succeed and you do well, and then you can provide for yourself, it gives you satisfaction. It gives you joy. One of my greatest satisfactions is just at the dinner table watching my kids eat their dinner, okay? Just seeing that my kids are clothed, they have a bed to sleep in, they have a roof over their heads, they're not going hungry, and I can sit back and go, praise God. Praise God that he has blessed me, that he's provided for me, you know, he's given me work where I'm able to make sure that my family's taken care of, that's going to give you the greatest satisfaction as a man, okay? And God wants us to work a job. He's put it in a man to be productive, okay? If you're just at home, you know, spending every day of your week just there playing video, look, men do, guys, men in their 30s, in their 40s sit at home and play video games for five, six, seven hours. The whole day, that's all they do. They're looking at a TV screen, they think, they feel good, it gives them a similar satisfaction as just going to work and working hard, but there's no productivity at the end of it. It's just costing them money. They're not doing anything in real life. They can't provide for a wife playing video games, they can't feed the kids with video games, can they? No, but going to work will make sure you can earn an income, you do what, you know, what God asked from you. This is the first thing that he asked from Adam. Look, this is before Adam's sins. Did you think working hard was part of the sin nature, you know, was a curse from God God? No, even before Adam's sins, God says, I'm giving you a job, you've got to work hard. He said, why is this? Why is it that God gave this to Adam? Well, one thing you may remember is that God created man in his image. In fact, the Bible is very clear and careful with how it's stated. A lot of people believe that both man and woman were creating God's image. That's not what the Bible says. We don't have time to go through this right now. The Bible makes it very clear that God created man in his image. Say why is that? Because God is a man, okay? God has masculine attributes about himself. And so when he created man, we're very similar to how God is. And look at this, go to Genesis chapter two, verse one, let me show you this. Genesis chapter two, verse one, it says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, verse number two, and on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made. What's the first thing we learn about God when we start the book of Genesis? That is a work in God, that is the creator of all things. He created heaven and earth, it says there, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that, and he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. So in verse number two, we have his work, all his work, verse number three, all his work. You see, the God that we serve is a work in God. And he, you know, we even got to the point where after six days, he said, well, I'm going to take a day of rest. Now, I'm not sure how much effort it took God, but it looks like he needed a rest. You know, even when Jesus Christ is healing the multitudes, remember that time when the lady with the issue of the blood touched the hem of the garment of Jesus, and Jesus stops and says, look, I felt some virtue come out of me. It takes some work, it takes effort, even from the Lord God, in order to do certain things. And when he created all things, he said, look, I've worked for six days, day number seven, I'm going to have a rest. I'm going to stop from my work. I'm going to stop from my labor and rest on the seventh day. There's lots of things to do the seventh day, we won't go into right now. But we see the example that God has set before for men. He doesn't say men go to work without first he doing that, which he's instructed us to do. We serve a working God, men you're creating in the image of God, and he's created you to be a working man, a productive man, okay, a man that can provide for himself, and eventually, hopefully as the Lord wills, a man who can provide for his family. Now look at Genesis chapter two, verse 16, Genesis chapter two, verse 16. When you take a job, usually you start as an employee, don't you, usually, you know, if you own a business, you're a little bit different. You know, God's blessed you in a way to be able to do that, praise God. But most of us, you know, when we work a job, we work for an employer. And then this is the instruction that God gives as the employer to Adam, his employee, verse number 16, 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, okay. So God issues a command and instruction to Adam. Men when we go to work, again, you're normally an employee, and when you take a job, when you accept a job, there should be a contract, shouldn't there, there should be some type of agreement that says, hey, I will work these hours, these hours that you set out for me, you know, this is the money that we've agreed that you're going to pay me, this is what's expected of me, and you sign on that dotted line, you say yes, this is what I'm going to do. And what God expects from you, when you're working the hours in your employment, is for you to be obedient to your employer, obedient to your manager, do the work that you've agreed to do, and you see that God makes it very clear to Adam, as a gardener, as you take care of these things, hey, help yourself to all the trees, every single one of them, okay, I want you to enjoy all the trees, Adam, but I don't want you to eat from that one tree. You know, it's amazing that they still make the mistake of eating from that one tree, when God has given them such great liberty to eat of many trees, but the point I wanted to show you there is that Adam was expected to do as his manager required from him, as his employer required from him. And this is sometimes difficult, you know, if you've been a man, you've been working for a while, been working a job, at the beginning, it's like, yeah, you know, do everything they asked me to do, but then as time progresses, you might have disagreements, as time progresses, you might find a lack of satisfaction in your job, you know, I don't know, you know, and often when I talk to people, and they don't like their jobs anymore, I mean, have you ever worked a job where you don't even like, you don't have to put your hands up, but you probably don't even, maybe even right now you're working a job, you say, you know what, I don't even like the job that I'm at, okay, and when I usually ask people, what is it that you don't like about your job, it's like, well, it's become mundane, it's become, you know, monotonous, it's become repetitive, I'm not learning anything new, and I kind of wonder about that sometimes, because, you know, every job I've worked has become mundane, every job I worked has become monotonous, you know, there was a time even before, you know, when I was a teenager, one of my hobbies, one of my interests was IT, was computers, right, and I thought, man, I want to work a job with computers, I want to be an IT guy, and one of my first jobs I landed, I worked for Acer computers, and we were sort of troubleshooting, repairing, you know, assembling computers, after about six months, you know, what I thought I loved, what I thought was, you know, entertaining at the beginning was, but after six months, I'm like, man, this is boring, this is monotonous, I'm doing the same thing over and over again, you know, I'm working with machines my whole time, you know, I want to interact with people, I want to interact with human beings instead of computers all the time. Then later on, I got a job where I'm interacting with people all the time, you know, where you're managing people, you're supervising people, after a while, I'm like, man, I don't want to deal with people anymore, you know, I want to go back to the machines, you know, and here's the thing, guys, whatever job you land, at some point, yes, it's exciting in the beginning, you learn it, but then it does, you know, you learn it, you do well, you excel, and you're just going to be doing the same repetitive job, no matter what it is, believe it or not, no matter what it is, even being an astronaut, I'm sure at some point, it becomes monotonous, the same thing, you know, you're training over and over and over again, you know, these are, you know, work is like that, that's what work is. And one thing that I found that they gave me satisfaction on the job is found in the book of Colossians, maybe turn there, Colossians chapter 3, please, Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3 verse 22, Colossians 3, 22, because I want you, man, you're instructed to work, but I want you to go to work with joy, I want you to finish your day in your job with satisfaction, and say, hey, I'm glad I worked those eight hours, those 10 hours, whatever it is, I'm glad I worked those days, now I'm looking forward to getting back home and seeing my family or whoever it is. And in Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3 verse 22, Colossians chapter 3 verse 22, the Bible reads, servants, or these are like employees, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as med pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. What drives you to do your job? Are you being a med pleaser? Do you only do work when your manager walks past? I've seen a lot of employees like that, right, they only work, they only start getting busy when the boss shows up, right, and then when the boss is gone, they're back to whatever Facebook or whatever it was they were doing, right? The Bible says, no, that shouldn't be what drives you, it should be the fear of God, right, the singleness of heart, fearing God. When you go to work, you ought to say, hey, I have a fear of God, I've made this agreement, I'm going to work these hours, and I'm going to do it whether or not anyone sees me. You want to get, listen guys, you want a tip from me how to get promoted in work? Stop pleasing man, just please the Lord, just work hard even when no one's watching you. So when no one's watching me, how am I going to get a promotion when no one's watching me? God is watching you, God is the one that promotes, God is the one that will lift you. You just need to humble yourself, do as you've agreed in accordance to God's word, look at verse number 23 there, Colossians 3, 23, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men, 24, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. Listen guys, this is how you have satisfaction in your job, you say, well, you know, manager so-and-so's employed me, but my real boss in the job is Jesus Christ, that's how you find satisfaction. Listen, that's what I changed in my heart, I said, man, I'm bored at work, I'm doing the same thing over and over again, and then when I realized and I said to him, I know, I'm going to work, this business belongs to Jesus Christ, here's my employer, I'm going to work hard for Jesus Christ, that changed my outlook on work, I found satisfaction, I found enjoyment, started doing other things that weren't even required of me, because now I'm thinking, I'm serving Christ, you know, I would go and get the vacuum cleaner instead of waiting for the cleaner to show up, right, if it's dirty, it's not part of my job description, go and get the vacuum cleaner, start vacuuming, people are like, hold on, you're the manager, why are you vacuuming? You know, in my heart, because I'm serving Jesus Christ, hey, that's how I got the promotions, because I started serving Christ, and that's going to give you the greatest satisfaction on your job. Because I hear from Christians that say, man, you know, I just want to be in full time ministry, I just want to serve the Lord in the church, you know, I want to be a pastor, I want to be a missionary or whatever, you know, I want to serve the Lord, you know, it's like, I can't find satisfaction in my job, maybe the call is for me to be in church and serve in the church. No, you can be in full time ministry in every job you're at, every work you work for, as long as you serve, you put Christ as the head of that institution, of that workplace, you are now serving the Lord God full time. Congratulations guys, you said Christ is your boss, now you're in full time ministry for Jesus Christ. Okay, it's not just the pastor, and the Lord will reward you, okay, the Lord will reward you in heaven, if not on this earth as well, okay. So that's how you find satisfaction in your job, work a job, provide for yourself, alright, that's step number one, step number one, work a job, provide for yourself. That's what God asked from Adam before he created Eve, alright. Step number two for a man to find satisfaction, step number two for a man to find joy is to get married. Go back to Genesis chapter two please, Genesis chapter two verse 18. Because I truly believe this, with all my heart, that, look, and sometimes it's hard to preach this, especially when there are single men, single men that are looking for wives and Australians to find wives, but I truly believe if they just place this, you know, the same process that we see here in the Bible, you work a job, provide for yourself, you save up, you know, you start, you know, making sure you can provide for a wife in the future, and you ask the Lord, look, I'm doing what you've asked of me, Lord, I'm working for you, Lord, I'm not married yet, but I'm working, and look, I see here that once Adam started working, now you've provided him a wife, and you take that to the Lord in prayer, I have no doubt that the Lord will answer that prayer, okay? I have no doubt about it, but here's the thing, if you skip the workplace, you know, you play video games all day, you know, you think God's going to send you a wife when you can't even provide for yourself, you can't even provide for a woman, why would God send one of his daughters in the Lord to you, you know, for marriage, if you can't even provide for yourself? It's ridiculous. Step number one was to work a job, but step number two for men is to get married. Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, guys, it's not good for a man to be alone, God created us with a need, that need is a wife, okay, a wife, and it says here, I will make him and help meet for him, or a help that's suitable for Adam, okay? So men, your wives are to be a help to you, you can be productive on your own, but you'll be even more productive if you find a good woman that'll support you, that'll be a help to you. Guys, I was in America, right, just a few weeks ago, you guys know for the conference, I didn't have my wife there, and I lost my passport, all right, that's how hopeless we are, right, we lose keys, we lose money, we lose everything if we don't have our wives around with us, okay? This is why God's made us a help meet suitable for him, verse number 19, and out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. So God brings all these animals to Adam, he's got to name them. Verse number 20, 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. Now let me pause here for a minute. There are a lot of people that are lonely, right, or maybe widows, maybe they've lost a married partner, or they're living alone, a lot of people, you know, take a pet for themselves, you know, a dog or a cat, some type of animal, and I'm not against that, you know, I think for some people having an animal can really fill a gap in their lives a little bit, right, can be a help, you know, as they can have some type of, you know, relationship with this creature, and look after it, I'm not against that at all, you know, God has created the animals there for us to be able to enjoy them, all right. But here's the thing, here's the truth of it, even when every animal was brought to Adam, at the end of verse number 20 it said, but for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. You know, no animal is ever going to be able to fulfill your life as much as a woman, for a man, okay. No animal will ever be able to replace, you know, a husband for a woman, or a wife for a man. Verse number 21, and the Lord caused the 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 Adam, sorry, unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, literally, literally, right, she was literally bone of his bones, but here's the thing guys, when you get married, this becomes a figurative or spiritual truth as well about your marriage, it says now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Listen, when you get married you become one flesh, one man, one woman, one marriage, or one unit as far as God is concerned. When my wife and I got married, and the pastor announced us, once we, you know, you may kiss your bride, and then he said, look, for the first time let me introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Sepulveda, we were one flesh, it wasn't Kevin and Kristina, you know, Kevin Sepulveda and Kristina Rodriguez, no, it was Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Sepulveda, why? Because we were one flesh, we united in marriage, but the key thing that I want you to notice there in verse number 24, therefore for this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother. Why? Why is that? Why doesn't it say for this reason a woman needs to leave her, now, let me explain a couple of things here, but, you know, it doesn't say a woman should leave her father or mother. Here's the thing guys, all of us are part of a family. Maybe you've grown up in a messed up broken home, broken family, but we all have some type of family unit, all right? Now when God says about marriage that a man needs to leave his father and mother, the reason for this is because marriage is a new family unit, brand new, separate from the previous family units you came from, okay? And because the man is the head of his wife, because the man is head of his home, the Lord then gives a description to the man that you need to leave father and mother and provide for yourself, provide for your wife, start a new family unit and the command is given to the man to leave his father and his mother. But how can he? Now this is interesting because Adam did not have an earthly father or mother, right? But yet it's told us here, you need to leave your father and mother. This is a universal truth. One thing that I find it in, especially in Sydney, you know, Australia, where the housing market is very, very expensive, okay? And look, if you're in this position, or you've done this, I'm not attacking you, okay? But a lot of people think, well, it's expensive to live in our own, if I get married, you know, we're going to have to rent and we can't really rent the right place, you know, we can't afford a house at this point in time, therefore we'll make the decision to live with the parents. I'm sure you've all heard a story like that, maybe you've even done it yourself, right? I'm going to live with my parents, the man says let's live with my parents, or the wife says let's live with my parents. And I understand, they mean well, they want to save up, they want to be able to provide and all those kinds of things. But listen, especially if you're going to get married, or, you know, this is for you, one day you will get married and you say, look, I'm thinking I might just live with mum and dad for now. Let me tell you now, from a biblical reason, don't do it. Don't do it. The command is for the man to leave father and mother, isn't that what it said? And look, Adam didn't even have a mother and father, all right, but he still commanded to leave mother and father, even though they weren't there. Let me tell you why, because, you know, when a woman, you know, a young lady should always be under the authority of somebody, you know, when she's in her home before marriage, she's under the authority of her father, okay? This is why traditionally the father gives her hand in marriage, he gives her away to another man, and now her husband becomes the authority over his wife, okay? And so it's a very difficult transition for the woman, right? So to go from a family unit, you know, from her father, her loving parents, you know, her siblings, and now she's under the authority of a new man, and she's expected to be submissive to him, you know, he's expected to love her, all those kinds of things. So it's a big transition, right? And you've got to get used to that new unit, just like you get a job, it takes you a while, you need time to get into it, to learn it, right? Before you become fully productive, before you fully enjoy the job, it takes a while for the, you know, you've got to be trained, you've got to learn, just like a new marriage, when you put one man and one woman together, there's a time where, you know, you hopefully have the honeymoon, have a bit of fun, but you know, you've got to get used to each other, you've got to grow and be under, you know, men need to learn how to be leaders, and women need to learn how to be submissive unto that man. And so if you make the decision to live with the in-laws, man, that's going to cause a lot of problems, because the in-laws will feel like they have authority over your family now. And I don't blame them because you're in the house, okay? You know, little Johnny never left home, he's still here with his wife now, you know, now I can command the, and this, what happens, this starts to cause problems, every person I know who's done this, where they've lived with mother and father, after getting married, has had family problems. It's always been because of the in-laws, they want to blame the in-laws, but God's command was to leave them in the first place, okay? So, please, I would really recommend, guys, please, if you're going to get married, and look, I understand, Sydney is a very expensive place, you might say, but it's impossible. No, it's not impossible, okay? I got married, when I got married, we were on, probably the lowest income, probably, you know, I didn't earn all that much, right, I had a wife, we were able to eventually buy a house on a single income, able to eventually have 10 kids, right? And now I didn't even work a full-time job, and I barely get paid from this church, but I got the income coming, look, it just takes time, okay? It just requires work, it just requires patience, it just requires, Lord, you told me to leave father and mother, and it's going to be best for me to do this, even though it doesn't make financial sense to me right now, but I know somehow, if I'm obedient to your word, you are going to bless me, somehow, if I'm obedient to your word, you're going to provide for me. You know, it's about trusting the Lord God in his word, look at verse number 25, verse number 25, and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now this is obviously, it was only Adam and Eve during this time in the Garden of Eden, both being naked, this is just a picture of the, you know, the physical intimacy between man and woman, and that is a natural need, you know? That is a natural need for the man, for the woman, to have that intimate relationship together. And so we see that play out, right? We see first Adam works hard, then he's given a wife, and now he's able to be, you know, intimate with his wife as well, okay, so that's God's process, okay? And unfortunately, we live in a society, once again, guys, the world is teaching you, just try before you buy, you know, get into fornication, you know, just go and live with them, you know, don't worry about the marriage, just start living together, you know, just forego that bit, and no, God's process is correct. Work hard, get married, then have that physical intimacy. That's the process that God tells us in his word. Now please keep your finger there and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, 1 Corinthians chapter 7, because you might say to me, but is it God's will for every man to get married? Now for the majority, yes, it is, okay? There is an exception to this, and we'll look at the exception very quickly, but 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 2 says, Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. So there's an instruction here in the word of God that says, look, to prevent fornication, get married. That's a great reason to get married, right? In order for you not to destroy your life, to not commit some wicked sin, and live in fornication. The instruction is to get married. Now here's the crazy thing, guys, because again, this happens in churches, this happens amongst Christians, parents or pastors or some type of infants will say, hey, don't rush into getting married, there's no need, just enjoy your life, go travelling, go enjoy whatever, but here's what happens. The longer someone waits before they get married, the greater the chance comes where they can commit fornication. How many stories do I know of young ladies, right, that after high school, they've gone into college, and you say, why are you going into college? Oh, because, you know, I need to work and provide for myself, but is that what God wants from you? Or is your husband meant to be the one that works and provides for you? And then before you know it, they're committing fornication. Before you know it, they've fallen pregnant. Before you know it, they're committing, you know, doing abortion or some crazy thing like that. Why? Because they've put off the marriage. They did everything else before marriage, but, you know, what they should have done was sought a man, a godly man, who was going to work hard and to provide, because that's what God has instilled in men, to work hard and provide. Look at verse number three there, 1 Corinthians 7 verse three, let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, look at this. I say, these are the words of Paul, now remember Paul was unmarried, okay, Paul never had a, the apostle Paul never had a wife, so he says this in verse number eight, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. He says, look, if you don't get married, hey, then you can kind of be like me, because Paul was not married, but look at verse number nine, but if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn, and of course the burning there is in reference to fornication. It's better just to let your younger people get married than for them to burn in lust and fornication and commit some grievous sin, all right? So now let's understand what Paul is talking about here, because perhaps as a man, perhaps you have been given the gift that Paul had received, okay? Now look at first Corinthians chapter seven, go back to verse number seven please, verse number seven, and sorry if I didn't give you the reference correctly before, but first Corinthians chapter seven verse seven, this is what Paul says, he says, for I would that all men were even as I myself, but every man have his proper gift of God, one after this manner and another after that, okay? So it says, look, the reason I don't burn in lust, the reason I don't have the desire to fornicate or to have that intimate relationship with a woman is because he's been given a gift by God, okay? And it says, but some have it and some do not have this, all right? Now let me just say very quickly, as a man, if you have the desire to be with a woman, then you've not been given the gift that Paul has been given. Just because you haven't been able to find a wife for a while, does not mean you've been given the gift, okay? It just means that if you have that desire to have that physical intimacy, which is natural, which God has put into a man, then you have not received the same gift that Paul has. Let's keep reading verse number eight there, first Corinthians chapter seven verse eight, that's why he says, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I, okay? Now this, what this teaching is, is that Paul was a eunuch. Have you guys ever heard of the term eunuch before? Paul was a eunuch. Now to learn a little bit about being a eunuch, go to Matthew chapter 19, please. Matthew chapter 19. I just want to make it very clear, Paul is not saying don't get married. He's just saying, look, if you've got the same gift, the same proper gift that I have, but some have it and some don't have it, okay? In fact, most don't have it. Most men want to work hard, provide, get married and have children, okay? But Matthew chapter 19 verse 10, Matthew chapter 19 verse 10, these are the words of Jesus Christ, the disciples come unto Jesus, says here, verse number 10, Matthew 19 verse 10, his disciples say unto him, if the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. And he said unto them, all men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given, for there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men, and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake, he that is able to receive it, let him receive it. You say, am I a eunuch if you're a young man? Well, if you have no desire to get married, you have no desire for a woman, you don't burn in that sense, you know, then potentially you have been given that gift, but you see it's not to everyone. Jesus says, he that is able to receive it, let him receive it. And in verse number 12, he speaks about three different types of eunuchs there, right? One eunuch from their mother's womb, meaning that for some reason when they were born, they were just somehow deformed in that area of life, okay? They're not able to produce children, and so they've been just like a deformity from their mother's womb, that's one way people have been eunuchs, a eunuch being a man who does not desire women. And then it says there, the second one, which have made, sorry, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men, now this is the worst thing that you can possibly think about, but if you read about some stories, you know, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you guys know that story in the book of Daniel, well those were made eunuchs of men, you know, when Babylon captured the southern kingdom of Judah, they had taken the people into captivity, you know, and they basically emasculated these men, okay? And the reason some concrete nations did this is because that's what generates testosterone in a man, okay? And when you remove that, then men aren't as aggressive, aren't as forward as they would be without that hormone. And so they're forced to become eunuchs, you know, under duress, you know, being forced because they've been conquered by another. Jesus is not saying that's good or that's proper, he's just saying that's just how some eunuchs are, okay? They've been made eunuchs because they've been taken and they've been taken and made eunuchs of men, but the third point is the one that Paul falls under, and there'd be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. It's not saying they've done anything to themselves, it just says they don't have, they've been given the gift, they've received that gift where they can keep themselves from desiring to be a woman, and with what God has given them, they're able to serve God in the fullest. You know, they don't have to spend time to look after a wife, they don't have to spend time to look after children, they can spend all their time serving God in his kingdom. And that's who the apostle Paul was, he was a man who was a eunuch after the kingdom of God and he could use all his time to serve God, to do more things for the Lord, okay? But you say, well, I've got a desire to get married, I have a desire to, you know, find a wife one day, well then, you know, you don't have the gift of being a eunuch, all right? But I wanted to cover that because there is an exception there, but that is an exception, that is not the rule, okay? That is an exception, not the rule. Please turn to Proverbs chapter five, please. Proverbs chapter five, verse fifteen. Proverbs chapter five, verse fifteen. I'm teaching you the word of God tonight, okay? I'm teaching you the word of God. I'm not teaching you the wisdom of man. I'm not teaching you, you know, what this world says, all right? This world says, don't get married. This world says, wait as long as you can. We're teaching what the word of God says, Proverbs chapter five, verse fifteen. The Bible says, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Okay? In other words, we can take this, basically say, look, if you need a drink, build your own well, all right? And men, if you need to provide, go to work and provide for yourself. Drink out of your own wells, right? Drink out of your own cistern. And you'll soon see, this is now becomes illustrative of having a wife. Verse number sixteen. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only, sorry, let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed, look at this, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. The wife of thy youth. Does the Bible say, wait till you get old, till you get married? Does the Bible say, try before you buy? No, the Bible says, look, take a wife in your youth. Okay? You say, look, I'm working, I'm providing, I can provide for a wife, there's a godly woman here, should I get married? Yes! All right? If she's in the Lord, if she's saved, and you guys love each other, you agree to be married, do it. Why delay? Rejoice in the wife of thy youth. Verse number nineteen. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, let her breast satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love. You say, man, I've been married for ten, fifteen years, you know, the relationship's not as good as it used to be. No, the Bible says, you know, be thou ravished always with her love. That means when you're seventy years old, you should still be ravished by the love of your wife. You know, you should, you know, it's till death do us part. The Bible says always, all right? Verse number twenty. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? The Bible says, look, why would you go and find some harlot out there? Why would you go and commit fornication? No, rejoice with the wife of your youth. Verse twenty-one. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. For his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, and he shall beholden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray. I don't want to expound too much on that, but you see, if you're going after a woman that's not your own wife, you can destroy yourself. You know, the Lord will judge you, and you can destroy your life. You say, well, what do I do? How do I, you know, I want to get married, you know? And you say, but you know, Pastor Kevin, we've got a small church here, you know, there's not a lot of young single men, there's not a lot of young single ladies, you know, how am I supposed to find a wife? To be honest, that's an excuse, all right? Because I've been in churches where there are a lot of young women, a lot of young men, and they don't want to get married to each other, all right? It's just, that's how it is. They're like, I don't know, I've known that guy for like ten years, I've grown up with him in Sunday school. You know, he's like my little brother, I don't think I've married that guy. You know, they're always interested when someone comes and visits, you know? If it's a young lady, the boy men are like, oh, who's that? You know? If it's a young man, the ladies are like, who's that? Look, here's the thing, if you guys are in Proverbs, go to Proverbs 18, please, Proverbs 18, verse 22. Proverbs 18, verse 22. Before we read this, I'm just going to give you, I'm just going to tell you some bad advice. This is what I've heard some pastors tell young men. Young men go up to the pastor and say, Pastor, I'm looking for a wife. You know what they say? They say, well, just pray about it, you know, pray about it, and the Lord will send one your way soon enough. You know, the Lord will just send you one. Just pray about it. Listen, you should pray about it, okay? But she's not just going to turn up, okay? Look at Proverbs 18, verse 22. Who so findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and obtain a favor of the Lord? You know how you get married? You've got to go and find a wife, okay? You know how you land a job? You go and find a job. It's not just go, sometimes it falls in your, I had one fall in my lap once, brother Simon, all right? But that's rare. Usually you've got to apply. You've got to go to seek.com. Look at the jobs, right? You apply, you go for the interview, you get rejected sometimes. You get rejected, you get rejected, and eventually you're going to land a job, as long as you keep doing it. All right? Well, it's like finding a wife. You apply. You know, you go and find a wife. My wife, when I met her, she was unsaved, gave her the gospel. She got saved. It's like, woo! I've got to, you know, and we started dating. Well, actually we dated actually before we got married. I'm sorry, before we, before she was saved, but you know, that's wrong, but you know, praise God. You know, she, I was able to give her the gospel. She got saved. Hey, maybe you'll find your wife knocking the doors in Fairfield. Knock the doors, you find a young lady, men, and you give her the gospel, she gets saved. Who knows? She could come to church. She could become your wife. It's happened many, many times. But you've got to make an effort. You've got to go and find her. Yes. Pray about it. Yes. Go find her. Apply. You get rejected. We try again. All right? Just like finding, finding a job. All right? It's, it's the man's job to go and find his wife. Now, if you guys can go to Genesis chapter three, please, Genesis chapter three. Just very quickly, you know, she's got to be saved before you get married. I just want to make that very clear. I have some notes here, but I just want to push on forward. You know, make sure she's saved. Make sure she's in the Lord. That's the person that you should be looking for, not an unsaved person. But Genesis chapter three, verse one, Genesis chapter three, verse one, I'm on my third and last point now. Number one, it was find work. You've been made to work. Okay. Number two, find a wife. But the third thing that's going to give men great satisfaction and great joy is when you lead your home. It's one thing to get married. It's one thing to have children. In fact, that's probably the easier bit. Okay. The hardest bit is to lead your home. The hardest bit is to be a leader, to give direction, to make sure your family walks in the ways of the Lord. But when you do that, when you take that step, when you're the spiritual leader of your home, men is going to give you great satisfaction. God has made each one of us men to be leaders, to lead others. All right. Not everyone's going to be a leader in a church. Not everyone's going to be a leader in the business place. Okay. Not everyone's going to be a leader in government or something. But we can all men, you have the ability to be the leader in your house, the leader of your wife, the leader of your children. Genesis chapter three, verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, yea, have God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Okay. When Satan wants to attack your family, guess who he's going to go for? Your wife. Okay. He's going to go for your wife first. All right. Verse number two, and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God have said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them were both opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, made themselves aprons. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. So let me just pause here for a minute. Both Adam and Eve have sinned against the Lord. They've both been in disobedience and ate from the tree that they were not supposed to eat from, okay? And then they hear the Lord God, and I believe that's Jesus Christ, walking in the garden of Eden. And they both run scared, basically, okay? Here's the thing. They've both sinned. But who does God go to? You see, look at verse number nine. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Okay? Listen, men, you are the heads of your home. You gotta understand this. It's not just you, you know, you're 50% of the authority, and your wife's 50% of the authority. You're 100% the head of your home. When your wives commit sin, when they do foolish things, or your children are disobedient, and they're doing foolish things, God's going to ask you, Adam, Adam, where are you? What's going on, Adam? He's going to go to the head of the family, okay? You can't, and you'll soon see, don't be Adam, because Adam blames his wife. Instead of taking responsibility for himself, he should have been the leader. He blames his wife. Look at verse number 10, and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, look at Adam, look what he does, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me. He says, Look, it was Eve, and Lord, you gave her to me. Who is he blaming? Blames himself? He blames Adam, and he blames God, right? She gave me of the tree, and I did eat. This is commonly the first reaction when you've been found out in sin. You go and you try to blame someone else, and maybe even blame God. Look, he wasn't taking accountability for his family, and he should have done that, because he's the head of his house. Verse number 13, and the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. How many of you have heard people say, The devil made me do it? That's exactly what she says. The devil made me do it, all right? That's not an excuse. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Thou shalt bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This is the first prophecy of Jesus Christ, but we won't go into that today. Verse number 16. Now, verse number 16, God is now cursing them for disobeying his commands. First he curses the serpent. Now he's going to curse Eve, and he curses Adam as well, okay? And I want you to be very, just watch how God curses them, okay? Verse number 16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, and in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. So ladies, when you've given birth, and the hardship, the labor pains you went through, it was Eve's fault, right? This was the curse that fell upon women. Here's what I want you to understand something about the curse. She was already designed to have children, okay? And look, God says that the sorrow is going to be multiplied, meaning that it was already going to be a difficult thing to give birth, but it's been multiplied, all right? So it's not like he's brought something new that wasn't already the case, okay? When Eve would fall prey, of course she was going to have some level of sorrow, but then it says in verse number 16, that's the last bit of it, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Man, we need more preaching like this from churches, right? He, the husband, shall rule over thee. If you're a feminist, you're probably already offended, right? The Bible says very clearly, okay, men, you are the head, you are the ruler in your house. But you should rule with love. As Christ loved the church is the way you should rule your family, the way you should treat your wife with love, but here's the thing, guys, she was already under the authority of Adam. God already created Adam first, okay? But her desire will be to have a husband. Her desire is to be submissive to that relationship. Men, stop asking your women, sorry, stop asking your wives for their opinion. I'm not going to, again, no raise of hands, right? But how many of you husbands have gone to your wife, you know, should we do this or should we do that? And your wife like, I don't know, what should we do? You know why? Because they want you to take lead, right? They want you to make the decision, and they'll be happy with your decision, okay? You got to take charge of your family. You got to show, you know, stability, strength, leadership in your home. I'm not saying never ask advice from your wife. Maybe they have greater knowledge in you in some areas. That's good. You know, but at the end of the day, you need to call the shots. You need to make the decision. God has put it in women to desire to be under the authority of a man, okay? The Bible, you know, if you're looking for a wife, the world's going to tell you this is what you need to do. You need to be a very soft, effeminate man. You know, make sure you put cream on your hands and, you know, lynx deodorant, you know, and if you smell good enough, you know, if you're feminine enough, if you're soft enough, you're in touch with your feelings, no, look, all you women know, you don't want that man. You don't want a husband that reminds you of a woman, okay? And then back in the 80s and the 90s, you know, the way they would show men in the movies, you know, you had these really buff guys, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, you know, with their guns, and they're just, you know, destroying everyone, and say, oh, look, this is what it means to be a man, you know, take it all, look, women don't want that man anyway either, they're a meathead, they're stupid men, okay? The media never portrays what a true man of God is. What a true man of God is this, a man who works hard, a man who provides, a man who's seeking and finds a wife, a man who's able to lead his home, a man who's able to lead his family, you know, in the ways of the Lord, this is the measure of a man. It's not how muscular you are, it's not how much hair you've got on your legs, it's whether or not you're following how God has made you. God has put this in you. This is what's going to give you joy in life, is if you follow the commands that God has given you, and I don't even have to tell you, man, you know this is what you want. You know you want to work hard, provide. You know you want to lead your family, but we just have this, you know, confirmed for us here in the Scriptures. Verse number 17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, and in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it that was taken, for thus thou art, and unto thus shalt thou return. So it says, look, your curse, Adam, is I already asked you to be a gardener, I've already given you a job, well now your job's going to be even harder. Okay, now you're going to have to work by the sweat of your brow. It's going to require more work in order for you to be able to provide your needs, provide the needs of your wife, okay. It's interesting that the things that God curses are the things that give us the most desire. You know, women desire to have children, women desire to have a good leader, to be submissive to that man. Men, we desire, it gives us satisfaction to work hard, but now we're just going to have to work even harder. Women, it's going to be even harder to give, you know, bring forth children. But here's the thing, even in, within these curses, by doing these things, by working hard, by the sweat of your brow, doesn't, I don't know you, but when I've worked really hard and I've been able to just lay in bed at the end of the day, just, it's just so nice, it's so relaxing. I know you've worked hard and now I can just rest easy and relax, okay. Because there's joy, once again, the satisfaction, it's built in us, you can't take it away from us. God has put this inside all of us. And let me just say another thing here, okay. Men were cursed to work harder, okay. Men were cursed with the sorrow of the childbearing than to be submissive under her husband. Now here's the thing, and I know we're all at different situations, I know we all have different financial things, but if I wasn't, you know, I wouldn't be a Bible preacher if I didn't tell you this, that, you know, I don't, I cannot understand why women want double the curse. They want the sorrow, I mean, they've got the sorrow, like it's already there, but then they say, hey, you know what, I want to go and work a job. I want to go, I think this is going to give me value in life, I think this is going to give me joy in life if I go and take on the curse of a man and I go and work by the sweat of my brow. No, no, that was given to the man, that was given to the husband, you've got to go and work. I would rather work two jobs than have my wife go and work when she's got plenty to do in her house, all right. And again, you say, well, it's expensive in Sydney, I know, okay, I've lived here, okay, but we did it on one income, we did it by following what God has told us, and the Lord has blessed us, okay. It's about walking in faith and being obedient to the Word of God. And so guys, just in summary, in summary, what does it mean to be manly in accordance to God's Word? Work hard, you know, if you're a lazy bum right now, you've got no ambition, you're not designing any work, and I'm talking to teenagers here, because teenagers, soon you'll be adults, soon you'll be a man, all right, start getting into good practice right now, start finding if you, you know, if your parents don't want you working outside right now, well start, what can I do around the house? How can I help mum and dad? Are there things around the house that need to be done? Maybe I can get up and fix it, maybe I can do that job. Start applying yourself, start working hard, you know, when you leave school, you know, go land a job somewhere, go learn some skills, it's not going to go to waste, okay. You take those skills and you're going to be able to develop that and get better jobs for yourself in the future. Maybe right now you say, I don't want a wife, well one day, you probably will want a wife, and when you want a wife, it's going to be best if you're already able to provide, you know, you've really earned a bit of income, you've already got a bit of a saving, you know, the Lord will send you a wife and in due time, you'll learn how to be a leader, you know, lead your home, have children, be that godly example, and that man is the true measure of a man. That's why God has created man, we need to understand this, okay. You know, the world is not going to tell you how to be a man, they'll tell you how to be effeminate, okay, that's what they're telling you now. You know, be a woman, they'll tell you, basically, you know, and women, be a man, that's what they want, okay. No, no, no, God's word is very clear, how to be a man, work hard, provide for your wife and be that leader in your family, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your word, Lord, I just thank you for this church here down in Sydney, thank you for their faithfulness, to come out to church on a Tuesday night, Lord, I pray you bless each one of us, fill us with your word and Lord, I just pray for every man here, Lord, every husband, every father, Lord, I pray you'd empower them to recognise the word of God, to live in accordance to what we see here, Lord, I pray they would find satisfaction in the jobs that they currently have, that will set you as their manager, as their employer, first, Lord, and Lord, just to be the great spiritual leaders you've called us each to be. Lord, I pray you would help me as well as I go through this series on the family, week by week, and Lord, I pray that it would be a blessing to everybody here. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us, yet that way may be known upon earth, by saving health among all nations, let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee, O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy.