A Biblical View of Gender #1

Today's gender activist invite people to choose their gender. You can choose a male or female, based on how you feel about yourself and how you can start God embedded binary sexual distinctions inhumanity at creation and nothing has changed since when God created Adam and the them identity of the Bible is clear they didn't have a say in the matter.

So from local perspective. How do we address the issue of people who claim to identified as a gender different from their biological one pie on Bill right today on the truth. Pulpit John Green continues teaching God's people. God's word as he begins a series titled, the Bible, and transgender is done. How should we minister to someone like me struggling with gender identity while we still uphold God's truth will bill that's a very question. The were hoping to answer on this somewhat lengthy series on transgender is on that were starting today.

I think it's important to start here. It's important to start with knowing what the truth is, because you need to know what the truth is, before you can minister truth to people that are struggling with these issues and there is such confusion in the culture that we have to kind a step back open God's word and see what it says about sexuality and gender and then you're in a position to speak from a position of authority that's based on God's word sets were going to do it in this series on transgender is him open your Bible and stay with us here on the truthful. Thanks Don and Fred. Let's join Don green right now for more insight from God's word on the truthful today I want to address the matter that I believe is just essential for all of us to know for all of us to have understanding and a perspective on as we walk through this world in which we live.

It's not so much that the issue itself is all-encompassing, but the issue is a symptom of what is on all-encompassing. It's a whole matter of transgender is. It is a blessed, blessed privilege of mind to be able to teach on this matter from a biblical perspective. I thank God for the for the writers, teachers who have helped me grasp this matter.

For the time and for the freedom that I have as a result of being here in this generous church to be able to devote my mind to this matter and to be able to speak it from a matter that is not motivated by fear of man, but a desire to to please God and to honor the truth of his word. Regardless of what anyone else thinks about this is no newsflash, but today, many if not most in business or in government certainly almost unanimously in the Democratic Party support the idea. Among other things, that the phenomenon of transgender is a means that biological males who claim to be females based on their sole assertion of self identity should be allowed to enter female restrooms female locker rooms female dormitories and play female sports. This is increasingly become becoming a thing that people men born biologically male, profess to be transgender and then go in and dominate college athletics that were intended by government legislation established in the 70s to be separated out for women alone. Whenever you think about females playing sports but everything about sports your to be able to look that say something's amiss here and yet I saw a headline without reading the story that at least at one level of the national collegiate athletic Association, a transgender woman, meaning a biological male claiming to be a woman was named the athlete of the week for female sports 11 social implications alone justify the series and the time that we will be giving to this matter. In the days to come. Also pressing on me as a pastor is to equip you for life.

The whole transgender ideology is is violently opposed to Christian truth and it is their intention to silence us. Indeed, you can look up about the equality act at the Democratic Congress has passed and they intend to silence religious objections to the social force you are in a position where workplace policies expect you to affirm transgender identity loved ones may come to you and want to identify is the opposite sex and use a different name than what their parents gave to them can imagine that I named you Susie I'm Tom now. Last time I laid out for you what I call the sad path to transgender is and how did we ever get here. There's a lot of philosophical thought and development over the past few centuries and brought us to this point where humanity has gradually walk more and more away from God's revelation of truth and is reached a point wherein it embraces the idea that truth is just a matter of personal subjective opinion so that you can decide for yourself what is true even to the point that even to a point that you can now decide whether you're a man or a woman without regard to the physical body that was given to you at birth. There is that aspect of it is also the aspect of the of the ongoing effects of the sexual revolution of the past several decades that have increasingly pushed society away from a prior moral foundation rooted in the moral law of God, so that these so-called restraints of of God's law and prohibitions against adultery and fidelity in marriage and all of those things are are now held up to derision well today what I want to do is to turn to Scripture to find our way back.

And here's the thing, beloved, there's there's a method to. I'm not going to call it madness is a method to my approach here is that as you need clarity in these things is important to recognize that we start with clarity, not by trying to figure out what other people are doing or what other people believe we find our clarity by going back to the word of God and seeing what it has to say and we do that with an expectation that God's word is going to be sufficient for us, because God's word claims that about itself law the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

What this means is taking Scripture on its face value is that we have in God's revelation in the 66 and no more books of the Bible. We have everything that is necessary to give us an understanding of how to find our way through this cultural collapse is happening all around us in time.

I want to say to you, parents of young children and times I have word in time. I have words to say to you about how to prepare and how to raise your children in the midst of this world today were at a broader level of consideration want to do.

First of all is to start by defining our terms. If you want.

If you write down points. Point number one defining our terms and are a lot of terms are wrapped up in this whole transgender-ism ideology were just going to focus on to I want to keep it simple and also I just want to say to those of you as we have young children in hearing your parents and a lot of what were saying is this going to go over their heads and that's great. That'll be a blessing from God that goes over their heads like this. But even with that said, I want you to know that I is my full intention to be very careful to be appropriate and what I say so that there is nothing that I will come out of my mouth about this. It is inappropriate for children to say, even though it's obviously very delicate to try to find my way through that, by the help of the blessed Holy Spirit that we have to use terms to help us understand here and if I don't do this. I don't know who's going to do it for you and that means I've got to be candid enough for this to be meaningful not talk in generalities right. I have got it.

We got to address this, as it really is not speak in platitudes or generalities. Don't get down and and engage this battle.

Face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat, here and so again I'm just at the point of asking you to support me to bear with me and to pray for me as we go through this together now when we use with that.

With that said, when we use the term sex in this series we are not referring to the God-given gift of intimacy that belongs alone to marriage between a man and woman were not using the term sex in that way using it in a different way. A more specific way as it applies to this discussion so that there is a term biological sex biological sex will have to refer to from time to time. When we use that phrase biological sex were referring to the physical characteristics that distinguish male from female, especially chromosomes and reproductive organs. Let's say there are there are biological physical differences between men and women. Biological sex is the phrase that is used to refer to that reality. The term gender is now has come to be used to emphasize the social distinctions between the sexes. What how men and women present themselves what their interests are, what their reactions are things like that.

Now, gender was historically used as a synonym for biological sex was two terms are used interchangeably. You know, just a few years ago, sex, gender area, no one would even think that there is a distinction made that academic writers have injected a change that activists have picked up on so that now there is a distinction in the wedge has been driven between biological sex and the way that men and women present themselves in life.

Sex and gender are no longer strictly synonyms so that society distinguishes between the anatomy of biological sex and watch this, the self identity of a person's gender. In other words, regardless of what my body is like my gender is how I didn't if I myself identify myself as a man identify myself as a woman and that has now been separated in common discussion and it can be talked about, completely apart from anatomy so that it is been said that a person with a beard and male anatomy can be a woman that's a level of discussion about this and it shows you that gender identification is been completely separated from any physical characteristics received from their parents and the active conception now.

Today's message is an introduction I risk oversimplification. Like I said got a 700 foot not here. You gotta start someplace to untangle it and started a very basic level so we can all start with a common understanding and progress from there.

That's why I'm doing it this way so with that distinction in mind, today's gender activists invite people to choose their gender. You can choose male or female, based on how you feel about yourself and how you feel inside.

Now I want to say recognizing that hopefully this will go out in other areas. One other term that I should use as there is a term called gender dysphoria by which it's a medical technical term which means that people feel conflict over the fact that the gender identification that they feel inside differs from their bodily anatomy and so there is this conflict within them that causes them to stress because the way that they feel is different from what their body says, and it haunts them. It's difficult for them in that condition that mental condition is a real thing and from those who describe it is very very difficult. We'll talk about that more down the road. This is not all just made up in somebody's by an act of will. People have.

This is a real problem. Well, we need to help them to find their way forward. What do you do when that is your state of mind.

Well beloved. There's more to it than all that I've said here but were laying a foundation and so what were trying to do here today. What we hope to do today is to go to God's word now.

And to think rightly about sex and gender in a way that brings us out society's confusion so we can see and understand for ourselves what Scripture says, regardless of what anyone else thinks about. We need to know as followers of Christ as those who uphold God's word. We need to know what Scripture says about this so that we can think rightly about it regardless of how it applies to anyone out in the world and in the process we need to see that fidelity to what Scripture says about these matters is is inherent to being a faithful Christian. You cannot compromise with transgender is him and be faithful to Christ. Those two things are mutually exclusive and part of it is rooted in the things that I said on Tuesday that this goes to the very foundation of what truth is and how we determine it will be addressing that more on twos this coming Tuesday but for today. Our goal is more modest. We just want to see what Scripture says about incidental bring us to the second heading in your notes here. What we would call a biblical view of sex and gender.

A biblical view of sex and gender will make this I've made this really basic and I trust easy and clear to follow is not to be in a big technical language, and this is going to look at God's word. See what it says in the Old Testament see what our Lord says see what is said elsewhere about personal reality and this kind of address it. From that way I don't expect this to take very long because frankly it's not that difficult in the beauty of Scripture and being a Bible believing Christian is is that there is a clarity in the simplicity that is perfectly appealing to the regenerate mind and then we'll deal some other matters.

Toward the end. Let's first of all, look at a biblical view of sex and gender starting at creation theirs will be three sub points here a biblical view of sex and gender and they all start to see one look at creation going to look at Christ were going to look at conception creation Christ and conception.

That's what's just ahead for us in what we are about to see. So let's start with creation and recognize and acknowledge this, that, according to the Bible, God created man and established in order to his existence in that order included a dual concept of sex of biological sex. There was an order to what God created. Look at Genesis chapter 1 beginning in verse 26. As we gladly turn to Scripture now. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 at the culmination of the account of creation. It says that God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him here it is male and female he created them humanity with two sexes, not three, not 117 is proclaimed by some websites to 12 male-female.

There are two according to God's design gone into Genesis chapter 2 Genesis chapter 2 verse seven it says that the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being stopped there for a moment, beloved, I want you to understand something really fundamental and basic here that is woven through this entire discussion God created mankind and that means this God assigned identity to man in creation. He assigned identity to humanity in his creative act in the first six days of creation, God assigned to humanity what it would be like it was his sovereign pleasure that it would be to do and no more. I suppose that God could have done it differently. In one sense, but he didn't. He created to and God by sovereign prerogative by creative prerogative said humanity will be like this, male and female, and he assigned first of all to the man who became known as Adam, his existence have informed him from the dust of the ground.

Genesis chapter 2 verse seven go on over to verse 21 you know that Adam was alone and have a helper suitable for him. God had mercy on him and did something to help him. Verse 21, Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place and the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man stopped there. Same thing God created the woman and assigned her identity to her. He made her into the female half of humanity. This was his assignment. This was God by sovereign will sovereign directive sovereign prerogative because it please God to make humanity male and female so that from our very first parents they received their identity from God. They didn't choose it. It was given to them.

It was assigned to them by no one less than the creator himself. Verse 23 the man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh in the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Notice the.

The dual nature here is father and his mother soon from the beginning they become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. They were given this identity and there were 22 and no more. Not three not multiplied the letter. What I want you to see is this is it was part of the original creation that God himself called good. This is the foundation of humanity received identity from God. He sovereignly appointing what the man would be like and what the woman would be like, and then tells them to go forth and multiply and fill the earth. Now this is affirmed. Even after the fall of Adam. Look at Genesis chapter 5 Genesis chapter 5 verses one and two. This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

Notice here in your English text here. The subject is God.

The verb is created. The direct object is man, God acted in a way that produced man. Man's origin is found in God. His identity is found in what God gave to him.

He did not create himself. He did not make himself. Man cannot make something out of nothing and he certainly can't produce himself just as watch this. Just as none of you made yourself come into existence right.

Your parents are responsible for your physical existence.

Your existence is derivative of the actions of someone else. Well take that as a collective indication of humanity. Humanity exists because of creative action of God. Mankind did not create himself. Verse two. What did God do when he created man verse two he created them male and female, and he blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created male and female Genesis 1 Genesis 2 Genesis 5.

This is the foundation of everything that follows beloved.

It's not simply humanity that this male and female distinction is impressed upon look at Genesis chapter 6 verse 19 is God is giving instructions to know about the animals to come into the ark. Genesis 6 verse 19 of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you, they shall be male and female so you have it in mankind. You have it in the animal kingdom God assigning this duality of sex of biological sex to his creation. And so, let's just summarize this point that Solomon essay about creation here, God gave existence to man. Speaking of humanity. God gave humanity its existence.

Man did not create himself as God gave existence to man. He gave identity to man male and female man did not choose his identity. God did not lay out a menu of options to Adam and say Adam, what would you like to be.

Here are 100 different choices.

Tell me what you would like and you became become the master of your own destiny. This way, Adam had no choice in the matter.

God just made him man sovereign will. Same for the beloved that fundamental reality of God assigning identity through his work is unchanged today when we view sex and gender. Through the lens of Scripture starting with creation, we can see God's perfect plan in creating humanity as only male or female and that's not based upon our choice or our feelings. We certainly can't alter his perfect plan for creation and his mortal impact about this topic. So join us next time. For more of our current series titled, the Bible, and transgender is him right here on the truth pulpit but for now Don Spector in studio with some closing thoughts will bill this whole matter of transgender-ism is something that just breaks my heart. The world says it's a matter of freedom and self identity. But the truth is is that it's a matter of false advertising in many lives and families are being torn apart by it's hard to find clear answers my friend and that's why were offering the complete pulpit series for free at our website. The truth pulpit.com and now for our teacher Bill. Looking forward to having you back with us next time.

As Don continues teaching God's people. God's word from the truth