"Joseph: A Godly Husband" | Pastor Steve Gaines

good job take your Bibles and turn with me please to Matthew chapter one and in just a moment we'll look at verse 18 through 25 Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 25 I want to say something to you that I really am concerned about and that is that there is a great need in our world but even in our nation and especially in our churches for men to be men of God I don't know how else to say it when we have men of Memphis Bible studies normally I will choose a man in the Bible and we'll talk about how we can learn from his life and we can learn positive things we can even learn how not to do some things you know the good thing about the Bible is it gives the good the bad and ugly it gives everything about people and I just believe that the need of the hour is for men to be men of God you know nowadays men don't know what to do they don't know even what it means to man up if you tell a man nowadays to man up that they don't think they look at you and they know what they're talking about but I don't want to just ask you to man up I want to ask you to Jesus up all right I want to ask you to be a man of God I pray that every man in this room now look I'm talking the the title of my message has the word husband in it but it could really just be a godly man not just a godly husband so don't if you're not married don't say well I just going to dismiss this whole concept of how to be a godly husband it really I really tied with the idea of just saying a godly man but what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at Joseph this week who was the man that God chose to bring up his son now you think about that what a responsibility how many of you would like to have been the man of the house in Jesus home alright and to bring up Jesus I mean one thing about you never had to spank him alright amen but you had to spank his brothers and sisters but you didn't have to Spain Jesus but he was the man God chose why did God choose him why him why not somebody else what was in his life that we can learn from and ladies this is not just for men today you can learn also as we're going through this but I want us to look at this godly man and see Joseph a godly husband godly man godly father whatever word you want to put in there but I want to talk to men about being men of God look there with me in Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together that is before they were intimate physically she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit in that phrase you have the virgin birth of Jesus and Joseph her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her plan to send her away secretly but when he had considered this behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus let's all say that name together Jesus why for he will save his people from their sins the word Jesus means Jehovah is salvation verse 22 now all this took place to fulfill or to fill full what was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet and then he quotes in verse 23 he quotes Isaiah 7:14 behold the Virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which is translated means God with us and Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called his name Jesus what does it mean to be a godly man well this is not a comprehensive sermon in other words every aspect of a godly man won't be touched upon but we will talk about some major issues for men and whether you're married or not this will apply to you first of all a godly man a godly husband a godly father should be righteous in character righteous in querque know the Bible says that there is no one righteous there is no one who is righteous in and of himself all of us are like we are righteousness is like filthy rags before God so we need the righteousness that only Jesus can give us and that's the righteousness you're looking for in character look at verse 18 now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows when his mother Mary had but been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit and Joseph her husband being a righteous man Joseph and Mary were betrothed to one another and what does that mean it was less just a little bit less than all-out marriage but it was way more than our modern in gage Minh in fact the Bible says that if he was going to break up with her he was going to have to send her away he was going to have to do that secretly he's going to divorce her secretly in fact the Bible says here that Joseph was already referred to as her husband in the state of being betrothed to her so being betrothed was a meaningful commitment between a man and his soon-to-be wife and they had the only thing is they had not come together physically in intimacy but yet they were in this binding relationship and all of a sudden Joseph learns that Mary is pregnant I just imagine that imagine being engaged and finding out knowing that it's not your child and finding out that your spouse to be is pregnant how would you react it's a good thing they didn't have the internet in that day somebody would have started a blog on the truth about Joseph and Mary well most people in Nazareth no doubt thought that Mary had been immoral and perhaps that Joseph had violated as well their betrothal commitment but Joseph knew that was not the case so he thought his wife had done something immoral but he was a righteous man he loved the Lord and he wanted to be sure that he did the right thing I'm sure that one of the main reasons Mary was attracted to Joseph is because he was a righteous man he wasn't sinless but he loved the Lord one person that you may not know that I only kind of knew from afar that I believe is one of the most righteous godly people ever to live his name was Steven Alford Steven o furred was a great preacher in fact he is the one that Billy Graham said taught him about being filled with the Holy Spirit how would you like to be known to be the mentor to Billy Graham about being filled with the Holy Spirit great man of God but how he got married was very interesting he and his wife knew of each other and the story goes and I talked to his own son about this that they were doing Crusades and he was a evangelist and a teacher and he was going over where teaching and preaching and you see them there in the black-and-white picture believe that's their wedding day but when they were not married she was a piano player at the Crusades and he was the preacher and he kept watching her and watching her and he saw in her the kind of woman he wanted for his wife and he was about thirty years old and he asked her out on a date you say what do preachers do on a date they preach no they don't they don't know they they they they just went riding out in a car in England and he pulled over he said could we pray together she said sure her name was Heather and they prayed together and in the prayer he quasi semi proposed to her first date he said Lord you know that Heather and I want you more than anything we want your will more than anything we want to be a godly couple more than anything and Lord I believe and I believe that she believes that we're right for one another and Lord if you want us to be together I pray that you'll let us be married they got through when they said Amen brother it was own Amen and they stayed married 56 years Amen let's thank the Lord for the old family amen some of you some of you don't realize that the old fir'd Center of preaching was based in Memphis for years and dr. Alfred and dr. Rogers my predecessor were some of the closest friends they could be but that great man of God just wanted to be a righteous man of God and he wanted to have a godly wife you don't have to look far in the Bible to find people that can be examples to you John the Baptist was a righteous man the Bible says that wicked Herod was afraid of John this is Mark chapter 6 verse 20 knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe even wicked people know when people are godly men and the Bible says that also about a man named Simeon who actually got to pray over baby Jesus the Bible says in Luke 2:52 and there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon this man was righteous and devout looking for the consolation of Israel that is the Messiah of the Jews and the Holy Spirit was upon him that's the kind of man I want to be that's the kind of man I want to emulate and to imitate and then what about Barnabas he was called a righteous man in acts 1124 great missionary partner of Paul Barnabas was a good man full of the Holy Spirit strong in faith and many people were brought to the Lord what does it mean to be righteous it means to be morally pure it means to be free from the shackles of pornography it means to love the Lord with all your heart soul mind and strength not sinless no but you love your wife you love your children you love the Bible you love to pray nobody has to blast you out of your easy chair to get you to come to church you're helping your wife get the children ready to come to church you're making sure that you are involved you're not for shaking the assembling of yourselves together there's no question about whether or not you're going to tithe and give two offerings there's no question about whether or not your kids are going to be involved in church there's no question about whether or not you're going to pray there's no question about whether or not you're going to share the gospel of lost people there's no question about whether or not your family as for me in my house we're gonna serve the Lord amen y'all can join him it's fine to done bother me yeah give her the program here's a great verse for a man you want to be a righteous man of God pray 1st Timothy 2:8 therefore out God says I want the men aren't you glad that God still wants men I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands men let's just lift our hands up to the Lord right now and tell Jesus that we love Him amen Lord Jesus we love you that's what you're supposed to do why because when you do that you surrender to the Lord you lift high the name of Jesus do without wrath and dissension men pray worship the Lord be a man of God a godly husband is a righteous in character number 2 of God the husband is kind in behavior and no amens on that one huh yeah yeah right look at verse 19 and Joseph her husband being a righteous man not wanting to disgrace her planned to send her away secretly I see in this a kindness he could have easily publicly disgraced her hey he could have had her stoned he could have killed her had her killed but the Bible says no I'm gonna divorce three said I'm gonna send her away that's what he meant about divorcing her is what that was I'm gonna do it but I'm gonna do it secretly I'm not gonna ridicule her even though my heart is broken even though I'm devastated I will not ridicule somebody else how many of you are on social media of any kind how many of you know that our world has gotten mean you can take a cheap shot anybody you want to anytime you want to but I want to tell you something you'll answer to God when you do it nan and I talk all the time about how we need to be kind you need to be kind husbands if you want to be loved by your wives be kind to her you can't be a crusty old goat you can't do it you can't be harsh all the time you can't you can't be like that you got to be kind and it's tone of voice oh my goodness it is tone of voice I've got this big voice you know and I talk like a football coach for all the times and I times I feel like I wake up the donna said good morning you know kinda like that and I'm not mad at all she said what's wrong nothing baby I'm just talking all right I'm just talking and I have to tone it down all the time and you know what God did God gave me one son and three girls they men I've even got a female cat and he meant I mean I got sensitive people all around me all the time man I got seven granddaughters I just got all kinds of women around me but God knew I needed to be kind do you know what the thing about kindness is if you don't think God wants you to be kind I don't believe this is a coincidence I believe it's providential there are nine aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit there in Galatians five you ought to memorize these love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness self-control there are nine of them goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control and there's four on either side of the one right in the middle which is the main one I believe the heart of the holy spirit fruit is kindness done and I've been on vacation we have been our ve that is a verb now for us alright and we had a great time but when we go out we'll go out to eat you know when we're on vacation and we always pray for our waiter and for our waitress get what you got to be kind to him you can't tell them well my eggs you you didn't do my eggs right how can I pray for you that doesn't go over real well all right you got to be nice you got to be kind and so we'll ask them what's your name everybody likes to hear their name and we'll say well we always pray over our meal how can we pray for you I learned this from Phil Newberry on our staff 14 years ago and we prayed for people there's one lady from Sweden she said well I don't believe in religion I don't believe in there but if you want to pray for me that's fine I've had two people in 14 years say I don't want you to pray for me guess what I prayed for him anyway amen but if you'll just be kind to people people will open up to you and it's amazing how many times the Lord has used that little simple thing it's just being nice to people and by the way give them a good tip to don't just pray for them and then give them a dollar bill like they don't need it all right a lot of those people are working jobs because somebody left them or they're single they're trying to raise kids and that's their second job you treat waiters and waitresses nicely all right you be kind to them all right and we'll pray for them and we'll just assistant way that we get to end and I'm telling you the Lord will bless you sir if you'll just be kind to your wife the Bible says in Ephesians 5:25 husband's love your wives just as Christ Jesus also loved the church and gave himself forth I want to ask you is Jesus kind to you he is is he not then you treat other people the way you want Jesus to treat you if you really if you really want to love your wife if you really want to be a man of God even if you're not married just practice being kind to people speak positively about your spouse I know a man who always denigrated his wife in front of other people he talked about her all the time and that woman died of cancer and she died never hearing her huh but brag on her or speak to her kindly look at me can't do that you have to be kind honor her don't be a mean crusty old hoot all right be kind in behavior number three a godly husband is obedient to the Lord look at verse 20 Joseph was obedient but when he had considered this behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream right in the middle of his being distraught God gave him a dream and spoke to him saying Joseph son of David don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit she'll-she'll bear a son now you think about this is before they had any of those instruments that could determine gender Amen and this before any of that he knows pictures anything like that and all of a sudden he knows not only is he having a baby but he's he's having a son and the Bible says you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet behold the Virgin shall be with child she'll bear a son and they'll call his name Immanuel which translated means God with us and Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife can you imagine what that was like Mary can you imagine what Mary was crying her eyes out knowing that she hadn't done anything wrong and she's pregnant she said be it done to me according to your word Lord and now she's pregnant she's done nothing wrong she's a virgin she's tried to tell him and he wants to believe her but he just can't but now he can he goes her said Mary Mary I know I know that what you said is right we don't have those words written but he had to have said something like that he said I'm with you in this we're gonna do this together and what do you think that was like for Mary do you think that just like a relief that came over her and he obeyed the Lord even though other people would Maw Joseph would be a defense for his wife and he stayed with her and he defended her he obeyed the Lord one of the people that had to obey the Lord that was so hard was Abraham when God told him you go to Mount Moriah you take your only son Isaac and offer him up as an offering and the Bible says that he was walking along with his son I think we've got a picture of it a little picture throw it up on the screen there he was walking along with his son and his son said father I've got the wood and I see how we're gonna start the fire but where is the sacrifice he didn't know he was the sacrifice and he said son Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide his sacrifice and they got up the top of the hill and all of a sudden he realizes Isaac does that he's the sacrifice I believe personally that he was old enough he could have fought against his old her father and won the battle but somehow Isaac submitted to the will of God he trusted his dad's walk with the Lord that much just imagine that Abraham bound him up put him on the offering takes the knife and is about to plunge it into his son when God says stop stop now I know that you love me more than it and you'll obey me I wanna say this to you I don't believe in a works salvation works is by grace but I want to tell you something you look at me God blesses obedience when God tells you to pray and you pray look at me God will do things for you that he does not do for other people that don't pray amen when God tells you to do something look at me just do it when God says pray pray when God says read the word read the word God is a talker God will speak to you when God says date that person date that person when God says don't be immoral don't be immoral when God says don't do this don't do it if you'll just don't do the don'ts and if you will just do the dues you will be in good shape all right jesus said jesus said in john chapter 14 verse 21 he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him if you obey me Jesus says I'm gonna bless you guys be obedient to God number four a godly husband is disciplined in passion again though a men's discipline and passion verse 25 don't miss this but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son he exercised discipline regarding physical passion now I want to be as kind as I can be but I want to be direct you know I believe that the time for mincing words from the pulpit is over so I must speak to you candidly Joseph exercised physical discipline and he disciplined himself in passion he was married now but he couldn't be with his wife until she gave birth why because the Bible says she would give birth as a virgin don't tell me he didn't have desires don't tell me that but he submitted all that to the Lord just like another Joseph remember the other Joseph back in the Old Testament when Potiphar's wife came after him day after day seducing him he was about seventeen years old don't tell me that wasn't hard the Bible says he was a good-looking young guy but he said how he said to her I said how can I do this your God's given me everything in this house except you how can I do this horrible thing we live in a day when people don't think anything about cohabitating that's a fancy word for fornication I know that it's getting tense in here I get it but I want to say this to you if you're not married you don't need to be living with somebody of the opposite sex all right you don't need to do it and I want to say what you need to do sir you're the one more than likely they got y'all in that situation you need to pay her rent you need to get out today today and you need to go somewhere else and pay her rent and either marry her or split up with her but don't be immoral with her another day not one other day and if you if you are dating use some common sense we don't know what happened well yeah you do yeah you do we don't know what happened preacher we went out in the country and parked in a car and it was all dark and we were praying romantic music we don't know how it happened yes you do yes you do I may look stupid but I'm not that stupid all right you've got to exercise some self-control you've got to have accountability partners you've got to say I'm going to save myself for my spouse and if look if you've already messed up can't do anything about that except give it to God ask him to forgive you and you can start today doing the right thing all right start doing the right thing today if you aren't look at me if you are single you are not to be intimate physically with anybody I don't say this if you have same-sex attractions you are not to go through with that because the only kind of marriage that God ordains is heterosexual monogamous marriage one man one woman for life that's yeah that's it and I know that when I talk about these things I'm gonna get letters why would you talk about that stuff our children heard that yeah you ought to see what they're hearing on the Internet you ought to see what they're hearing on the Internet I didn't cross the line I can if you want me to but I won't okay I won't cross the line don't worry about that but you need to be disciplined and passionate if you'll say Amen I'll move on okay no I'm gonna say one more thing I read the book of Job this week job gave one of the greatest Prevention's for any type of immorality I know men this will help you job 31 verse 1 can we put that on the screens all right can y'all see that read it with me everybody I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman do that and then and just strike the word young there all right any woman ask God to help you number 5 a godly husband is focused on Jesus focused on Jesus I love verse 25 think about this never one time in the Bible do we have one quote from Joseph now we know he talked it wasn't mute but we never have a quote from what does that mean he was a quiet kind of guy but do you know what God allowed him to do back in Matthew 1:21 God said she will bear a son you shall you shall call his name Jesus the first one look at me look at me the because he walked with God the first one ever to say the name of Jesus over the Messiah was Joseph we don't have a quote but it says in verse 25 and he called his name say it with me now Jesus he was a Jesus man he woke up with Jesus every day amen Jesus come on we're gonna go to the synagogue Jesus come on we're gonna go build some cabinets Jesus come on we're gonna get a gift for your mom Mary Jesus I know you don't understand this but I got to spank your brother I've never spanked you Jesus but I got a I got to spank your brother today he was focused on Jesus and I want to say this to you guys best thing you'll ever do for any woman that you ever marry hears be a Jesus man when I say man up I'm not talking about lifting weights I'm not talking about being an athlete I'm not talking about being a millionaire I'm not talking about any of that stuff I'm not asking you to score the highest thing on an IQ test I am asking you if you want to be a man be like Jesus the greatest man of all be a Jesus man now how many of you guys you say brother Steve this has been kind of stout today and my wife's been nudging me well look come next week I'm preaching on Mary all right and I will reciprocate okay we'll let the ladies squirm a little bit next week all right guys I want you to look at me right now I'm taking those eyes off of my notes don't you look at me one of the greatest needs in the whole nation is for men just like you and me see the thing I like about Joseph he's just a regular guy you can't say he didn't have any education you say God chose this special man no he was a special man but he was a blue-collar guy no education poor never have a word probably didn't speak that well never have a word spoken but I never have a quote from him and yet God chose this simple man to raise his son I want to be like him don't you Charles I want to be like you I want to be like this guy I want to be a man you don't know how many times I have stood at a casket and watched children look at their the body of their dead father and I've seen every action there is I've seen people that hated the man that was in that box but I've seen people that loved the man that was in that box you ought to live in such a way and when your kiddos look in that box and they will that they say you know what my daddy wasn't perfect but he was righteous in character he was kind in behavior he was obedient to the Lord he was disciplined and passion he was focused on Jesus thank the Lord for Joseph Amen let's give praise for this sweet man of God let's pray together father I just pray in the name of Jesus now that you would make all of us more like you with our heads bowing our eyes towards the Lord I'm gonna ask you today would you pray that God would you just take this little list home hope you wrote it down would you take this home and start praying for these things to be in your life look at me don't look at me I'm sorry your heads are bowed I'm sorry I'm so sorry you say well do you want us to look or not I don't care what you do do whatever you want to all right I just want you to know I'm gonna write these down on a car and I'm gonna start praying these for me and my son and my three sons in law pray them for yourself pray that you'll be like Joseph now some of you can't do that because you don't know the Lord you can't just work this up this comes from the Holy Spirit within some of you don't know the Lord you've never been saved I'm gonna ask you today if you've never given your heart to Jesus Christ would you do that you say what do I do well first of all you repent of your sins you say I'm a sinner I've broken God's laws and I haven't done right all the time I've done wrong sometimes and I i've disobeyed God and I turn from that I turned to the Lord I I ask him to forgive me that's repentance then you believe you believe that Jesus died and paid the penalty for your sin you can't save yourself you can't do no good enough good works to be saved but Jesus died for you on the cross paid the penalty for your sin and rose from the dead to give you eternal life if you'll believe in that he'll save you and then if you'll receive him just invite him to come into your life as many as receive him to them he gives the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name would you do that even right now would you let me just lead you in a prayer just like I would lead a young couple in their wedding vows would you pray and receive Christ if so prey something like this he's right there with you just say dear Lord Jesus thank you that you're here with me thank you that you love me I'm a sinner I can't save myself but I believe that you can save me so I repent I turn from my sin I turn to you and Lord I believe that you died on the cross for me I believe you rose from the dead to give me eternal life so I repent and I believe in Jesus and I receive you right now come into my life and save me Lord wash me and cleanse me write my name in heaven fill me with the Holy Spirit help me to live for you for the rest of my life in Jesus name if you pray that I rejoice with you angels are rejoicing how many of you men out there unit's out brother state I know I'm saved but I want to be a righteous man of God I want to be a man of God like Joseph raise your hand anybody up there let me pray for you lord I pray I got my hands up Lord keep our hands up Bible says let men lift holy hands to the Lord do that right now father I want to be a righteous man in character I want these men to be - I want us to be kind in our behavior obedient to you Lord discipline in our passion and focused on Jesus help us Lord in Jesus name if that's your prayer say Amen

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 1,956

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Id: JytImVS33CU

Length: 38min 51sec (2331 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 09 2019