(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We're taking a short break from the book of Mark. And I'm really excited to preach that next sermon out of the book of Mark. But I figured since it's Christmas week, we're getting close to it, I should preach maybe a few Christmas style sermons. But really, this is a family style series. And so the title of the series I'm preaching through the rest of this week and into a little bit next week is called The Stable Family. So obviously, there was no room at the inn. We just sang that song, a great hymn, and there was no room at the inn. And so where did they end up having to stay? Well, they end up having to stay basically where people keep cattle. And Jesus was born and laid in a manger. And that's basically a feeding trough for animals. But those three individuals and Jesus, when he was born, all three of those people end up being great people of God. And Jesus, of course, was God manifest in the flesh. So he was a pretty good guy, right? But Joseph, Joseph gets overlooked a lot, I think, in preaching. And I wanted to preach a sermon specifically about Joseph. And he's a unique character. He kind of disappears in the adulthood of Jesus. I think that's probably because maybe he had passed away. The Bible doesn't really say what happened to him. The Bible doesn't say much after Jesus starts his ministry. But people do recognize and know Joseph. But I want to preach this little series. And I'll preach one of these on Sunday sometime, and then also maybe one at the assisted living ministry on Christmas Eve. So anyway, hopefully you get edified out of this. And it really is geared toward the family. And everybody can get something out of this sermon. You can get something out of God's word every time it's preached. Even if it directly does not apply to you, it's still you can get something out of it, amen? And so don't drift off tonight. And just pay attention and make sure if you're not a father, you're not a dad, hey, maybe you're going to be someday. And maybe you're a step-parent or you're going to be a step-parent. You just never know. I mean, especially today with the way marriage is, it's not done the way it was back in this time. So there's a lot of mixed marriages and a lot of mixed children with different family members in all kinds of different situations, single mothers and single fathers. And really, the state of affairs of marriage in this day and age is a total mess. And so I'm going to preach this little short series about the family, about the holy family of God that had no place to go except for where animals slept and fed. Joseph doesn't get preached a whole lot, like I said, but he was a good earthly stepdad to Jesus Christ, wasn't he? I thought he was. Everything he says that he did was good. And he was a great man of God. He shows forth many good attributes, exemplifies what a good stepdad can be. And stepdads do get a bad rap in this world. A lot of people, if you say, that's my stepdad, usually there's some kind of negative thing said about that. But there's a lot of good stepdads out there that don't get credit for being the good stepdads that they were. And a lot of times, like even in churches like our church, people emphasize, well, Joseph wasn't Jesus' real father. He was his stepfather. That's true. But see, God picked Joseph to be his stepfather. He picked Mary for a reason. He picked Joseph for a reason. Why did he pick Joseph? Because he was a great man of God. And unfortunately, like I said, stepdads get a bad rap sometimes. And they're mistreated by the children that they've cared for, maybe all their life. Never call them dad, never call them, they just call them by their first name. And because there's, like I said, there's complicated situations out there in the world. Sometimes people don't, kids, they love their parent. But maybe they have a better stepdad than they ever had a real dad. But sometimes people just have daddy issues, and they can't get past loving their dad more than they love their stepdad. And so unfortunately, stepdads get treated like a doormat with some kids. And it's not right. But there is a reason why stepdads get a bad rap also. I mean, I'm not going to excuse stepdads because I had a bad one. And a lot of the reason why stepdads get a bad rap is because they do mistreat their stepchildren and treat them like garbage. And that's not right either. But there's a good stepdad here in the Bible, and that's Joseph. And so Joseph is the picture of a great earthly dad and a great stepdad. And tonight, I want to show you why with four points. So point number one, let's turn back to Matthew chapter number one. While you're turning there, I'm going to pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this wonderful evening, Lord. I pray that you would watch over those that are sick and out of church right now. And I pray that you'd help us to have a great weekend, Lord. We've got a busy weekend coming up, but we have many blessings coming also, Lord. Pray just bless this weekend coming up and Lord that everything will be done to your glory and honor. Pray that you fill me with the Holy Spirit right now. Help me to rightly divide and teach your word. And I pray that you fill me with the Holy Ghost and with power and boldness in Jesus' name, we pray, amen. All right, Matthew chapter one, verse number 18. So point number one in the sermon tonight is Joseph was a man of principle. So Joseph was a man of principle. Look at Matthew chapter one, verse number 18. And if you're taking notes, it is an alliterated sermon. So if a person likes to take notes, I'm not usually an alliterated sermon type of person, but tonight it is. So you note takers, take advantage while you can. All right, Matthew chapter one, verse number 18 says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. So Joseph, he believes, and most men in this position would believe the same thing. And hey, if you're put in this position in the future, don't believe them, because this is the only virgin that's gonna conceive and bring forth. And she's found in the Bible. She was prophesied to bring forth a child, a virgin. But see, Joseph doesn't realize that someone's calling me for no reason. Man, okay. Hey, will you turn that ringer off or just put the ringer down? Man, that's embarrassing. I thought I did that before church, I'm getting old. It's Pastor Anderson, hey, he's calling. Last time he was preaching, and then he's calling me. Sorry, Pastor Anderson, I'm busy right now. But I'll call you back after the sermon, all right? Anyway, so let's see, where was I at? So Joseph was a man in principle. And he realizes that Mary's pregnant, and he thinks, okay. Well, if you notice, it says that he was, it was before they had come together. So they were married, but they had not consummated the marriage. And that means that they had, so that's what it means when it says they had not come together, they had not consummated the marriage. And so he thinks, okay, well, Mary, she's been fooling around on me. And so in the law of God, before their marriage is consummated, that is the only time that you're allowed to get divorced. Because as for the reason of fornication, Jesus Christ says that. And so unfortunately, a lot of people in this world don't believe that. Unfortunately, a lot of people in this world don't hold to their vows, and they're not faithful to their spouses, and the world's in a mess right now. But Joseph, it says he was a just man. He wasn't willing to make her a public example. He had the right to divorce and put Mary away. And he would have been well within his rights to do that. However, she was with child of the Holy Ghost. And so she was not unfaithful to Joseph, but he didn't know that. But look what kind of guy he was. Most people in this situation would make a big to do about it. They would call her out publicly, maybe would have had her brought before the elders and stoned to death for doing this. But Joseph is like, well, I could just get the divorce done, and I'm free to remarry if I want to. And it says he was not willing to make her a public example. He was minded to put her away privily, which means a private deal. He didn't want to publish it abroad and make a big deal out of it. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. So basically, God was telling him, hey, it's safe to marry her. Don't worry about it. This is the, and so of course, I'm sure that was still a strange situation to be in. It takes, even that being so, a lot of men might not even have stayed even in that situation. But God, he was a just man, that means he was saved. And so he believed in God. He wasn't just some unsaved person, he followed God. And we'll see that as the story moves on. So Joseph sought to do what was right because he was a just man, because he was saved. And he wanted to make the matter private, not to make it public, and to make a big deal about the situation. Joseph could have flipped out, couldn't he? Before the angel came to him, he could have flipped out. A lot of people would have flipped out, right? But he didn't. Not many people would respond like this. So how do we apply this to ourselves? Well, we could be a little bit more like Joseph and not publish it abroad every time we're wronged. And I think Remy preached a sermon about that, about suffering yourself to be defrauded. And so just because someone wrongs us doesn't mean we have to lash out and freak out every time. We could make it a private situation too. We could just go to that person like the Bible says to and take care of it like that. We don't have to make everything a public example. I can't believe so and so said this about me. I'm gonna make it a public thing. You don't have to do that. You can just keep it to yourself. You can go to that person yourself or you can just, you know what, you can say, you know what, I forgive them. If it's not that big of a deal, you can suffer yourself to be defrauded. You can suffer yourself to be wronged, and God will bless you for that. And another thing we could apply to us is we could be a little more controlled in our reactions to being wronged and not flip out and fly off the handle. Because anger can cause you to sin. The Bible says be angry and sin not, right? But sometimes, most of the time when we're angry, what do we do? We sin with our mouths, with our actions. And anger can let us say things that we shouldn't be saying, do things that we shouldn't be doing. You know, like when you're driving around town, that's my biggest example, is driving around these morons that live in this area that don't know how to drive. Hey, the fast lane is for people that are going fast. The slow lane is for people that are going slow. So anyway, sorry, I'm flipping out, I'm getting mad. But it can be a little irritating, but we're supposed to be angry and sin not. And we need to be controlled with our actions. Joseph didn't flip out, did he? He was controlled, he said, while he thought on these things. Not while he was flipping tables over and throwing things against the wall and cursing Mary's name. He wasn't doing that, he was controlled. So number one, tonight Joseph was a man of principle. Number two, tonight Joseph was a man of punctuality. He promptly obeyed when God asked him to do stuff. Look at Matthew chapter one verse 20, it says, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by the Lord by the prophet, saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did, as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and he knew her not, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. So Joseph was a man of punctuality. He promptly obeyed what God told him to do, what the angel of the Lord told him to do. What did he tell him to do? Take Mary unto you for your wife. And when he woke up from his sleep, in verse 24, it says, being raised from sleep, did, as the angel of the Lord had bidden him. He did what he was told, promptly. He woke up, he got married. I don't know if he just rolled out of bed, combed his hair, and said, okay. Come home, baby. It wasn't like that, but he went and started putting his faith into action immediately. It says, and so obviously he couldn't name his son Jesus until he was born. He couldn't name his son, the firstborn son Jesus, but right when he was born, what did he name him? Jesus. You know, not Emmanuel. All right, Sam Gipp, because Sam Gipp seems to have a problem with this text for some reason, but anyway, he's been beat down a lot. He's been beat down enough. But that's one of the most idiotic interpretations of scripture I've ever seen. But it's very clear that Joseph was the name of Jesus, wasn't it? And if you look, Mary was also told to call him Jesus. So in Luke chapter two, I believe. But anyway, so Joseph promptly obeyed. So as soon as Jesus was born, what did he name him? Jesus, immediately, right? And Joseph, he didn't sleep in. He didn't get around to it one of these days. He immediately did what he was told to do. He didn't do it when he felt like it. He promptly obeyed God's commands. Woke up, get her done. All right, and that's the way we should be as Christians also. He promptly obeyed the instructions about the child Jesus. Go to verse 13 in Matthew chapter two. Now, CJ got his Christmas present early, because I was gonna have him read Matthew chapter one, but there was all those names. And so I didn't wanna, so Merry Christmas, CJ. He didn't have to read all the names tonight. I went easy on him and let him read Matthew chapter two. So Matthew chapter two, verse number 13. The Bible says, and when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And here he is again, when he arose, he took the young child and took the young child's mother by night, and departed into Egypt. So he obviously woke up during the night, and he didn't say, well, in the morning after we have breakfast, I'm not doing anything without having breakfast, let me sleep until ten, I wanna make sure it's gonna be a long journey, I wanna get my beauty rest. No, he did it immediately. He got up in the night and took them and went to Egypt just like God told them to. He promptly obeyed God's word. He promptly obeyed what the Bible told him, what God told him to do. Skip down to verse 19, it says, now this is after Herod had died. It says, but when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead which sought the young child's life, and he rose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. So every time Joseph was told to do something, did he ever say, why, Lord? Why do you want me to marry her? Why do you want his name to be Jesus? Why do you want us to go to Egypt? Why do you want us to go back to Israel? Did he ask any questions like that? No, he just did it. Because Joseph was a man of punctuality, he promptly obeyed God when he commanded him to do things. Look at verse number 22. It says, and when he had heard Archilius did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. Notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. So we need to learn also as people, let's apply this to ourselves. We need to learn to be people of prompt obedience also. Not putting off the thing so that we need to do concerning God's commandments. So we shouldn't put things off. When God speaks to your heart in church and says, hey, you need to make this change in your life, hey, don't wait and do it. Do it immediately. Do it promptly. Be like Joseph. If you know that you're failing in some area as a father, take the things that you see Joseph do and apply those to your life. You as a father, you as a dad, should be applying these things to your life. Now obviously tonight I'm gearing everything more towards dads, okay? And I'm gonna preach a sermon about Mary also, and so that'll be geared more towards mothers and women. But tonight it is focused on men, but we can all apply this stuff to our lives. And so one thing that I used to tell my kids when they were growing up was, delayed obedience is disobedience. When I say, hey, go clean your room, they're like, well, I'm going to. And believe me, my kids would say that. And one of my best examples I give to kids when I'm out giving the gospel, I always say, hey, do you always obey your parents when they tell you to clean the room? When they tell you to clean your room? And they know, they're done. They're smote in the heart. It's like stealing from the cookie jar or whatever. They always throw stuff under the bed, don't they? They always throw stuff in the closet, don't they? Now some kids, all of them are good clean kids, but most kids, who in here threw stuff under the bed when you were growing up? Be honest. Kids, I know. Come on. Well, maybe you don't get away with it, but maybe you used to, but you don't get away with it anymore. Don't do it because your parents are going to look. You know, maybe there's times when they look at everything and everything looks nice, like, you know, at surface level, but then you lift up the mattress and there's like all their stuff under there. And then the drawers, everything's just thrown in the drawers. The laundry that you worked so hard to do and fold is thrown into the closet in piles and heaps. Come on, I know I'm preaching to somebody out here that's... Anyway, we need to not put things off and when we're told to do something, kids, delayed obedience is disobedience. You can say all you want, I'm going to do it, but if you don't do it when your parents tell you to do it, then you're disobeying them and you're wrong. It's not right. The Bible says you're supposed to honor your father or mother and, you know, you should do what they say. And parents, if they don't do what you say, what should you do? It's time to get the switch out, right? It's time to get the rod out and correct them and reprove them. But obviously, you know, everything needs to have a balance in it. You know, we can't just be disciplinarians. We have to love our children and nurture them and things like that. So let's see. So number one, Joseph was a man of principle. Number two, Joseph was a man of punctuality. He promptly obeyed. Number three, Joseph was a man of priority. Joseph was a man of priority. He made his family a priority, didn't he? And he made marrying his wife a priority. He got up, he obeyed promptly. He did it and made it a priority. And let's look back at Matthew chapter one, verse number 24, go back to Matthew 1, 24. The Bible reads, Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. So Joseph chose to trust God and what he said. He said, hey, don't worry about it. Marry your wife. And he did. He took him to his wife. He trusted God. And so he made marrying his wife a priority. It was a priority for him to name Jesus the name that the angel told him to. It was a priority for him. He didn't say, yeah, I like the name Jesus, but, you know, I'd rather go with, you know, John. No, he didn't do that. He made it a priority. As soon as he was born, he named him Jesus, okay? He made that a priority. Look at Matthew 1, 25. Bible says, And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and called his name Jesus. So he made sure to name him what the angel commanded him. It was a priority to protect his family also. Look at Matthew chapter 2, verse number 13. Matthew 2, verse number 13. The Bible says, And when they departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared, appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And what did Herod do? He sought the young child to destroy him, didn't he? He killed all the children in Bethlehem, two and under. So that tells you that the wise men came to Herod when? Well, how long was the time period that he actually sought after Jesus to kill him? It was two years. So every child under two and under got killed by Herod. And you know, Joseph thought it was a priority to protect his stepson Jesus. And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. He protected them. And you know what? As dads, we should be protective of our children also. We should be protective of our family also. Joseph took them by night and made haste to take them to Egypt. It was a priority for him to provide a home life also. Because when he took him back out of Egypt, look at verse number 22 in Matthew chapter 2. Verse number 22 in Matthew chapter 2, it says, But when he heard that Archilius did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. Now withstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. So he protected his family, but he also provided a home life for them. You know, Joseph was settling down. And that's where Jesus grew up. He didn't bounce him around all over the place. He took him to a place, provided him a stable home, and that was a priority for Joseph. He turned to the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled. That which was spoken by the prophets, he should be called a Nazarene. Where did Jesus go back to when he started? Where did Jesus preach his first sermon? He preached at Nazareth, didn't he? And everybody there wanted to kill him. So that wasn't a good part. But like, why did he grow up there so everybody could see the life of Jesus? And they might not have believed that he was the Christ. They might not have believed he was the Messiah. But you know, they got to see him watch up. They got to see his family. And Joseph provided for his family a home life. And he had brothers and sisters. And the Bible says that Mary was not a perpetual virgin like the Catholic Church likes to teach. You know, it's ridiculous. The Bible says several different places that he had brothers and sisters. His brothers believed on him after the resurrection and were leaders in some of the churches. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse number 8. See Joseph was supposed to provide a home for his family. And that's what good dads do. They provide a home life for their family and not just a place to live, not just food and stuff like that. We're supposed to provide spiritual lives for them too. But look at 1 Timothy 5 it says, but if any man provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. And we apply this when it comes to monetary things and taking care of them. And that is a principle interpretation of that. But notice what it says. It says, if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his house, he hath denied the faith. See, because if you're not providing that, I'm sure that they're not providing a good church life for you either. And it says that you're worse than an infidel. Even if you are taking them to church and you're not taking care of your own family, some other family has to take care of you all the time. Look it says you're worse than an infidel. That's an unbeliever. It's not like a Muslim infidel. Okay. Anyway, so how do we know Joseph provided for his family? How do we know that? Well, it says that he, you know, turned aside in the parts of Galilee. He came to and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. But turn to Matthew chapter 13, verse 54, and the Bible shows that he did provide for his family. Look at Matthew 13, verse number 54. The Bible says, and when he was come into his own country, he taught them in the synagogue and so much that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man, this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? So does that tell you Joseph had a job? Okay. So Joseph provided for his family. He said, is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto him, the prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. That tells you he had a house, okay? That tells you he was the son of a carpenter, his dad Joseph, his stepdad Joseph took care of their family. That tells you that Mary and Joseph were still married until whatever happened with Joseph, he probably passed away is what I'm guessing. But they knew who he was and they knew who, so his family was all together. His brothers and sisters all lived in the same house until they probably got married or whatever. But we know Joseph provided. You know what? It was a priority to him. It was a priority to him to protect his family. It was a priority to him to provide a home life for his family and a traditional family. This is what a traditional family should be like, right? Joseph made God a priority. Joseph made God a priority. Look at Luke chapter 2, verse number 41. Luke chapter 2, verse number 41. Luke chapter 2, verse number 41. The Bible says this, now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. So what does that tell you? That Joseph was faithful to the house of the Lord. How often were they supposed to go up? Every year to the house of Jerusalem, the house of the Lord, and it says they went every year. Joseph was a faithful man to God too. He kept God's commandments. He did everything that God had asked him to do. And he was practicing what he was supposed to be doing, taking his family to church, taking his family to the house of the Lord. Now they said the house of the Lord was different than it is now, but you can see that Joseph made his family's spiritual life a priority. Joseph made God a priority. Now skip down to verse number 51 in Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, verse number 51, the Bible says, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them, it's talking about Jesus, but his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. You know what? I know that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but you know what? He was subject unto his parents and his dad took him to church. His dad took him to the temple so that he could learn the word of God. I'm sure there was a synagogue in their town that they went to on a regular basis because that's where people went to church or whatever. They had local congregations called synagogues back then. But so he had found, Jesus found favor with God and man. And you know what? Your kids can find favor with God and man also. But you know what dad? You got to lead your children. You got to take him to church. You got to make it a priority and obviously I'm preaching to the choir right now because you're here in church with your children. You've made it a priority to be here on a Thursday night. And some of you came from a long ways away. And I'm thankful for that, but don't quit. See Joseph went every year, the Bible says, to Jerusalem like he was supposed to do. But in the New Testament, you know, every time the doors are open, we call that three to thrive. And if you're here and you live in a local area and you could be here to every service, you should be. And you know what? Your parents, I mean your children are going to grow up and you know what? They're going to want to love God. They're going to grow in favor with God and man because they grew up in a local church knowing the things of God. They have a way better chance of having a better life, you know, and sticking and staying and being the next generation of believers while, you know, we raise them up in the nurturing and admonition of the Lord. Hey, look, we've got to train the next generation to love church. And you know, obviously I know that everybody in here is doing that. But look, we can't quit every year. Every year Joseph went and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And so we need to be selfless as parents. And sometimes, yeah, we don't feel like coming to church. You know, and really when the dad doesn't feel like going to church, the rest of the family is like, oh yeah, I don't really feel like going either. Or if mom doesn't want to go, then dad doesn't want to go either. Or if both parents don't want to go, the kids can't go. I thank God for the families of this church that hey, if one of the mothers or dads are sick then they still, one of them brings the other half that are well to church. That's the way it should be. Hey, your Christianity shouldn't just be wrapped up in one person. Hey, who are you coming to church for? You should be coming to church for yourself, but you should also be coming to church for your children and for your spouse. So when they see that you're strong, that's going to help them be strong when it's their turn, when you're sitting there puking and you can't come to church or whatever it is that you're going through. And then your spouse will be like, well, you know, hey, he went when I was sick, well maybe I should go too. That's a good example. We need to be selfless as parents. Dads, you need to make your wife a priority. Joseph made his wife a priority. Hey, you know what? You need to have your life straightened out with your wife, otherwise, you know, you're not going to grow up, your kids aren't going to grow up in a stable home. You know, and obviously wives and husbands fight sometimes, and sometimes we probably have said things in front of our kids that we wish we hadn't have said. That doesn't mean that the relationship's over. Your kids, they might see some ugly stuff or hear some ugly stuff, and obviously they shouldn't be hearing that stuff, but sometimes it happens. But you know what? They also see you two forgive each other, and they see you move on. And they see you fall, but they see you rise up again and take your family to church again. And so we need to make our wives a priority in our lives. We need to make sure that we're protecting them. We need to make sure that we are having a relationship with them that, you know, so that you can have a happy marriage. And so that when you have a happy marriage, then you have happy kids. So dads, we also need to make sure that we make protecting our children a priority. Hey, you better be ready to spring into action, because crazy stuff happens all the time. I mean that guy just started stabbing people at a bank or whatever yesterday, and you just don't know. Be prepared. You got to have your head on a swivel, and when you're the protective person, you know, your wife is not the one that's going to fend off some attacker, it's going to be you. You better be tough. You better, you know, do some pushups or something and get strong, pack some heat, you know, be ready to roll, but protect your family and not just protect them from physical things, protect them from spiritual things that would be a danger to them. So we were in Hawaii, and Josh was like, yeah, we're going to rent some kayaks, and we're going to go out to the Chinaman's Hat, and we're going to do all this stuff. And I was just like, you know, I had just like this feeling in my gut like, no, don't let him do it. But you know, he's, he's getting older. And he's, you know, he started to be a man or whatever, and he wants to go out and do manly stuff. And that's cool. I appreciate that. But you know what, I don't want to be the one that made the decision that said, hey, yeah, go out in the ocean, Josh, I know you've never been out in the ocean in your life, but why don't you go ahead and paddle out in a kayak that you've never been in before and just paddle out. You know, look, you can't do that. You have to physically protect your children to stop them from making decisions. You look, as long as they live in your house, you're the boss of them. And you know, Josh did not go to Chinaman's Hat when we were over in Hawaii. And then I talked to people later. They're like, oh, I've done that before. Okay, well, cool. Well, I'm not just going to let my kid go out into the ocean. I don't care if it's two feet off the shore, I'm going to protect my children however I see fit. And if he doesn't like it, then he better get married, move out. But we need to protect them from spiritual, physical danger from making stupid mistakes that look kids are, you know, foolishness is bound to the heart of a child. And he's not a child anymore. But you know, I mean, you know, when you're 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, you just you think you're like Superman or whatever, right? And I was Superman compared to what I am now. But we do dumb things. You know, we make stupid decisions in our lives. And things that we like, man, I really could have got killed. That was really dumb. You know, I don't know what I was thinking backflipping off that waterfall, you know, look like it was cool. But you know, you can get hurt really bad doing stuff like that. So but as a parent, we need to make sure that we're protecting our kids physically and from spiritual danger. Hey, my friends want me to come to their Wesleyan church tomorrow? No. No, don't you're not going to the Wesleyan church. What do they teach at the Wesleyan church? You can lose your salvation. What do they teach at the Mormon church? A lot of weird stuff. What are they church teaches the Jehovah's Witness I just found this out the other day that when they do the Lord's Supper, they just pass it and look at it and then pass it to the next person. Okay, never heard that one before. That's pretty weird. But look, I don't want some other wicked church teaching my kids doctrine. So guess what, if it's not a Baptist church, you're not going. So we need to protect our families from, you know, and like letting your wife listen to some hokey preacher. You know, and when they're, you know, during the day, they want to listen to preaching and stuff like that. Well, hey, why don't you listen to preaching that you know is good. The person's saved. If you're listening to John MacArthur, while your husband's at work, you're wrong. That guy's a devil. So you know, dads, we need to provide for our families the needs we need to put a roof over their head, food on the table, clothes on their back. All right. And that's what we're, we, you know, in the verse of Timothy, that's what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be taking care of our family, monetarily, physically, spiritually. And we need to take our kids to church, we need to teach them the Bible, we need to read the Bible with them. And it's important to be real with your kids. You know, don't be a phony baloney while you're at church and be, you know, something else at home. And obviously, we're all not, we all put on our best face to church. So let's just, let's just, you know, be truthful about it. But, you know, some people are more fake than others. So not looking at anybody, not just joking. I'm totally kidding. But you know, we do we put on our best clothes, we put on our best face. We try to unless we fought all the way to church with church, you know, all the way to church with our wives or whatever. That's never happened to me. Doesn't happen anymore because she drives in a separate vehicle. But anyway, we just decided maybe it was best not just kidding. So look, number one, Joseph was a man of principle. Number two, just was a man of punctuality. He promote he promptly obeyed. Number three, just was a man of priority. And number four, just was a man of purity. Look at Matthew chapter one, verse number nine, the Bible says, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. So that word just man means that Joseph was saved. All right, and it's important for our family members to be saved. Hey, what's the point of having a bunch of kids if all of them go to the devil? I mean, how dumb is that? Hey, I'm gonna have 12 kids. No, 12 of them stopped going to church as soon as they left the house and went straight to the devil. Do you want that to be your testimony? Well then hey, you better make sure that they're saved. Joseph was a just man. And I think that some of his kids weren't saved, but they ended up getting saved, didn't they? It was nice to have Jesus, the Lord and Savior, as one of their brothers. But hey, Joseph was picked for a reason cuz he was a just man. And God knew how he was gonna deal with all these things. So let me show you that a just man means being saved, though. Look at Genesis chapter six, verse nine. I'm gonna rock you through some scriptures here. Genesis six, nine. Genesis six, nine. The Bible says this. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Does it sound like Noah was saved to you? Absolutely. And when it says you're a just man, it means someone that is justified before God. And how are we justified? By repenting of all of our sins? No. By making Jesus the Lord of your life? By believing in Jesus and making sure we do good works? No. The Bible says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Do you know what that means? That he got something he didn't deserve. He got favor that he didn't deserve because he was a just man. That means he believed God. The Bible says he walked with God and we need to walk with God too. But being a just man means you're saved. Noah was a just man. Deuteronomy 32 verse four is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wanna turn there, you can. I'm gonna go through these really fast. Deuteronomy 32 verse four says, he is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways or judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Now, Jesus was saved, wasn't he? He was born without sin, he never sinned, he was saved. And he was God, so obviously he was an eternal being. But even the man Christ Jesus was perfect in his generation also. And so actually so perfect, he didn't find grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was saved the whole time. So he never sinned. Proverbs 20 verse seven says, the just man walketh in his integrity. His children are blessed after him. Habakkuk 2 4 says, behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith. Joseph was a just man. How did he live? By faith. The just shall live by faith. And then of course we have the famous verses in Romans chapter three. I'll go through those real quickly. If you want to turn over there, you can. Romans chapter three verse 20, the Bible says, therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. So that word justified, again, if you put it simply, it means just as if I'd never sinned. So there's no deeds of the law that will let you be justified. You can't keep the law to be saved. Romans 3 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How are we justified? Freely by his grace. You know, it's so funny, I mean, this verse is so plain and clear. It's so crystal clear, but yet people just want to live by works and they want to try to claw their way up to heaven. You're never going to get there. You're never going to get there by the works of the law. You have to be justified freely by grace or you're not going. Romans 3 verse 28 says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. You can be saved without the deeds of the law. In fact, if you think the deeds of the law are getting you there, you're not saved. Therefore, in chapter 5 verse 1, Romans 5 one says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5 nine, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all our sins. The moment you put your faith in Christ, that blood is applied to your life. It's applied to your heart. When God looks down upon you, he sees no sin. He sees the blood of Christ, his only begotten son. And that is how we are justified, by his blood, by our faith in his blood. Galatians 2 verse 16, and this is one that should shut down the works of salvation people. But it's like you can read that to them, they'll be like, but I still think. Don't you still, it's like what? It's because Satan has blinded their minds and darkened their hearts. And he's the god of this world, right? Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not the works of the law, for the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. The word justified is used three times in there, and it's saying it's not by the works of the law, it's of the faith of Christ. And by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And so Joseph was a just man, therefore he was saved, amen. He accepted what God told him without question. Think about that, without question. He acted on God's instructions without hesitation. He's a good man. He was a godly man. And I haven't really heard a lot of sermons about Joseph, but I just thought he would be a good guy to talk about, especially since Christmas, the stable family. And Joseph was a solid piece in that family. We need to have a real saving faith as well. I've been talking about this a lot with the kids in here. Kids, if you don't have a real saving faith, your mommy and daddy aren't gonna save you. You can't just, because you're their family member, you're not saved. You're saved because you believe in Jesus. You personally have to put your faith in Jesus. You personally have to realize you've sinned and that by putting your faith in Jesus, he's gonna give you the gift of everlasting life. And you have to accept that yourself. Your parents can't do it for you. Pastor Thompson can't do it for you. Nobody else can make that decision but you. It's your choice, and it's a good choice to make to be saved. Cuz nobody wants to last in hell forever being tormented in flames. And you say, well that's scary, Pastor Thompson. It is scary. That's why I want you to get saved. So if you're not saved, whoever is not saved in this room, hey, tonight you can go home and talk to your parents about it. I'm sure they'd be glad to talk to you about how to know for sure you're going to heaven when you die. So we need to have a real saving faith that's our personal faith. Every person has to have the lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world as their savior. And we need to be obedient in our faith and look to Joseph as a godly example as dads. He's a good godly example. There's a lot of good godly examples of dads in the Bible. Joseph was a good one. I mean, the only thing I can see that he really did wrong is that they forgot Jesus back in Jerusalem and then they had to go back and get him, okay? We all make mistakes, right? I told you this story how we left Nia at home and I had to come back 90 miles an hour from the river, which is only like five minutes from where we're at. But man, it seemed like an eternity. We lost Nia twice. We lost her at the Clark County Fair for what seemed like forever. There's just so many people. It's a scary feeling when you lose your kids. But hey, Joseph can lose them. We can lose our kids sometimes too. It's scary though. Keep a good eye on your kids. Anyway, Joseph was a man of principle, number one. Joseph, number two, Joseph was a man of punctuality. He promptly obeyed. Number three, Joseph was a man of priority. And number four, Joseph was a man of purity. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the example of Joseph in the Bible. Lord, I pray that dads would pay attention. And Lord, just think on these things that have been preached tonight from your word. Lord, Joseph was a great man, and that's why you picked him to be the stepdad of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we just pray that you'd help our families to make you a priority. And Lord, to make keeping your commandments a priority, Lord. And that Lord, everybody in this church would continue and just keep sending their families to church and bringing their families to church and leading their families, Lord. We need strong men at this church, Lord, to pray. You bless each and every one of them. And this whole congregation, Lord, until we come back next time, in Jesus' name, amen.