Gender Issues

Transcript

GRM 1020
9/7/2008
Gender Issues
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


Our last study on Sunday in the morning we talked about the Christian and politics and I want to follow-up on a matter that is related to that and comes to the fore because of some of what is taking place today. And it fits the context of a broader setting that I just think that we as believers need to be on top of and aware of. There is a great emphasis today in our society and in the world generally about removing any distinction between the sexes, male and female. There's a great push we have on homosexual relationships and the accepting of those relationships, and it's getting to the point if you say anything against it, it shows that you are bigoted and narrow and unloving and so on. Gender neutral language, not only in the world, but in the translation of our Bibles. There is a strong move that we ought to remove any gender specific language and now we have translations of the Bible that are gender neutral, taking out he references and so on, to try to make it more gender neutral. The whole emphasis on the equality of a man and a woman has come to mean sameness, no distinction between a man and a woman.

This puts great pressure on us as believers, great pressure on us as a church. And if we're not careful we begin to adjust our thinking and be shaped by the thinking of the world. In Romans 12:1-2 the Apostle Paul exhorted the Romans, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the making new of your minds, in order that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. We just want to be careful that we are not even so ever so subtly being shaped in our thinking by the world and we begin to accept things as normal, which are really clearly unbiblical.

Let me say something here on the political realm, and don't want any misunderstanding. I'm not going to be trying to tell people how to vote or not to vote, whether to vote or not to vote, as I said last week. But I think we need to be careful. Evangelicalism, as it's been titled, has become identified in the political world with certain positions. We need to be clear that being a social or political conservative is not necessarily the same thing as being biblical. And sometimes we get more into certain things because we find ourselves in agreement here or disagreement there, and if we're not careful we begin to adopt positions that are unbiblical because of superficial agreements. And we do not want to be conformed by the world, shaped in our thinking and practice by the world.

So we're going to start at the basic, and I hope this is review for most of you. And that is that God is the sovereign Creator of all. And this will take us back to some verses we use in talking about the political arena and our responsibility as believers and how we should see it. So come to Isaiah 40. These chapters in Isaiah, we're going to look at verses through chapter 45, we could have gone beyond, into chapter 48 and so on. As I encouraged you last week, I would encourage you again to take some time and just sit down and read through these chapters. They are dealing with God's dealings with Israel primarily, but it's showing His sovereignty over all as the Creator of all. So that it is His will, His purposes that must be carried out by His creation. And any rebellion against His authority, any attempt to function contrary to His will as the Creator brings us into direct conflict with Him. Isaiah 40:6, and I'm going to jump so I'll tell you where we're going, we'll be skipping sections. A voice says call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out. And here is the message to be sounded. All flesh is grass and all its loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass wither, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. You'll note that. Men come and go, empires come and go, glory comes and goes. It is always at the sovereign determination of God, just a mere breath from Him and it dissipates. But His Word stands forever, it is rooted in His very character and being.

Down in verse 12, here you see Him as the Creator. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens by the span? And calculated the dust of the earth by measure and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? You see the sovereignty of God, like somebody just measuring something with a scale, calculating its weight, measuring how much. He can do this with the water, with the dust, with the mountains. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult? Who gave Him understanding? Who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? He is the root, the source, nothing comes before Him, no one comes after Him. He has all knowledge. Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scale.

Verse 17, all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. Jump down to verse 21, do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. It is He who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. And no sooner have they come into power and they're gone.

Jump down to verse 25, to whom then will you liken me, that I would be his equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads them forth, leads forth their hosts by number. He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Little could Isaiah have grasped with the limited resources available, the wonder of our universes and their vastness. And here God says He has brought it all into existence. He knows each one by name. They are numberless, billions and trillions and not one of them is missing. He knows exactly where each one is and it's where He would have it be. This is the sovereign Creator.

Verse 28, do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. And so that's where we find our strength. Physically, we grow weary, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Jump over to chapter 42 verse 5, thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. Verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another nor my praise to graven images. Chapter 43 verse 1, but now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, oh Jacob, and He who formed you, oh Israel. And particularly He is address the people He has called for Himself, the nation Israel. Do not fear for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name. You are mine. Inseparably joined together through this section as you read through it on your own at a later time, you'll see how His role as the Creator and His role as the revealer of His creation are inseparably bound together.

Look down in verse 10, before Me there was no God and there will be none after Me. I, even I am the Lord and there is no Savior besides Me. Verse 13, even from eternity I am He and there is none who can deliver out of My hand. I act, and who can reverse it? Look down to chapter 44 verse 24, thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the One who formed you from the womb. I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, spreading out the heavens by Myself, spreading out the earth all alone. Down to chapter 45 verse 5, I am the Lord, there is no other, besides Me there is no God. The end of verse 6, I am the Lord and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these. You know we talk about the forces of nature, Mother Nature. We look at the hurricanes now in the news and we can talk about how they are formed and how the temperature of the waters affects them and so on. But you'll notice what God says, behind it all do you know who makes it happen? I do, I cause well-being and I create calamity. I am the ultimate determinor, causer of all these things. Catastrophes, natural catastrophes, there are no such things because there is a divine hand bringing it all about.

Verse 9, woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth. Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing, or the things you are making say he has no hands? It's a fearful thing to challenge the One who created you. He has sovereign power and authority over you. That's the issue that we need to grasp here. Look down in verse 12, it is I who made the earth and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with my hands, I ordained all their host. You know those who say there is another way the earth came into existence, woe to the one who quarrels with his maker. He says, I did it. And if you say there is any other way it was done, then you are quarreling with Me. Woe to you.

Down to verse 18, for thus says the Lord who created the heavens. He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it, did not create it a waste place but formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, there is none else. We can just pick up at the end of verse 21, there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior. There is none except Me, turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. And be forewarned, I have sworn by Myself, every knee will bow to Me. Do it now while there is salvation for you, is the message He declares.

Turn over to the New Testament, John 1. The gospel begins, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, the Word referring to Jesus Christ. He is called the Word of God because He is the very revelation of God, He makes God known. He was in the beginning with God, now note this, all things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. God the Father bringing about creation through God the Son. ___________ God the Holy Spirit as we find in Genesis 1 with the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep. All things created by the triune God.

Look over in Colossians 1. We'll be moving through more verses and sections of the Word than we normally do when we're in one book. Verse 15, He, referring to His beloved Son, the One in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. You see the connection between the Savior, the One who brings forgiveness of sins. And note verse 15, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And it's in Him that God the Father's plan of reconciliation for fallen sinful human beings would be brought about, as he goes on to say in verses 19-20 and so on. We have the sovereign God who created all things, and you see within that God declares His authority over everything, because He created everything. And so it is His will, His purposes that must be accomplished in the creation.

Now we come back to Genesis 1 where we have the biblical account of creation. This is an actual, literal account, this is how it happened. This is God's account of what He did. I realize many people disagree with that, they try to explain it away, but as we'll see Old Testament and New Testament alike declare this is the way it happened. The only One who was there when it happened told us. Other people sit and speculate and guess and try to come up with idea of how it might have happened, but the One who was there and brought it into existence has told us. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void. But Isaiah told us He didn't create it to be formless and void, but to be inhabited. So He progresses to tell us what He did over the six days of creation, and what He brought into existence.

We're interested in man as male and female, so come down to verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and let them rule over the other creation. So verse 27, God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. A verse I want you to note here, God created man. We talk about generic language and we don't want to talk about and use the term man or men generically to refer to all people. We want to have a language that is without gender reference. But you know where it began, to call men and women man, it began in Genesis 1. But in verse 26 God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule. So verse 27, God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female. He created man as male and female. So we talk about man, mankind, men, referring to men and women often. Because that's how God started out, He says I'm going to create man and I'll create him as male and female. You say, that is not what is quite popular. It's what we're told, God created man, He created man as male and female.

Come to chapter 2 and you have the details of how He did it. You just have an overview statement in chapter 1 of all creation. Now you come to chapter 2, God breaks down the creation of man as male and female and walks you through the specifics, which also revealed His purposes. Verse 7, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man became a living being. Down to verse 18, then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him. Now note here, God created the man first, man is alone. God said, that's not good, I'm going to make a helper that will be fitted to him, that will enable him to be everything I create him to be—a helper suitable for him. No helper suitable among all the creation, God had to do a unique work of creation. So in verse 21, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. He slept, He took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh of that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bone, 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, shall be joined to his wife. They shall become one flesh.

Important matters as you are aware. We've studied this on other occasions, the order that God revealed that He used in bringing about creation. He's the sovereign God, He could have spoken the word and immediately there would have been a male and a female. But He followed a certain plan that He had within Himself, within the triune God. First He creates man out of the dust. He didn't just think him into existence, but He fashioned him out of the dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Then He said, now he needs a companion that will be fitted to him. He didn't take the dust and make a companion fitting for him. He put the man to sleep and took a portion of the man, and fashioned that into a female, a woman that would be the perfect companion for the man. And that is the foundation for marriage. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. The basic relationship is not the parent and the child, the basis relationship is the husband and the wife. Kids need to realize that, you can't stay home indefinitely. Get married, get out, go. Parents, remember that. You raised them to go, so let go, get out. That's biblical. We won't do a message on that right now.

Come to Matthew 19, we're going to come back to the Old Testament. Thousands of years have gone by since the creation in Genesis 1-2, cultures have come and gone. Jesus, the Son of God, the One through whom the Father brought creation into existence is now walking on this earth. The author of life is here and He is being challenged by the religious leaders of His day with questions regarding marriage and divorce. Verse 3, the Pharisees came to Jesus testing Him and asking Him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? The Pharisees were the experts in the Old Testament law, as you are aware. He answered them, have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. That's a rebuke to the Pharisees. Why did you ask Me that question? Haven't you ever read your scriptures? Haven't you ever read the Law? These are men who pride themselves, we are the Law experts. Then what are you asking me a question for? It's resolved. What does it say when He created them? He created them male and female. If there were no other verse, that would resolve the homosexual issue. Can you have marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Have you never read the scriptures? He made them male and female, not male and male or female and female. He made them male and female. That answers the question. That's God's intention. Anyone who says otherwise quarrels with His Maker. Woe to him.

Goes on. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife. The two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. But you'll note how absolutely literally Christ takes the creation account of Genesis. And He says that establishes what ought to be the pattern and the way we function in our marriage relationships. It's a male and a female and it is a permanent binding relationship brought about by God. So you see in that work of creation at the beginning in Genesis 2, He established the pattern that transcends what culture does. That's God the Creator's plan for His creation. Period. That's not the way people do things. Well we'll address that. It's the way the Creator says He wants them done.

Turn over to I Corinthians 11, I'm going a little out of my order so I have to check it. Why do I tell you I'm going out of my order? You wouldn't know if I didn't tell you. Verse 3, and this is a passage that we spent some time working through the detail and you can get CDs of those messages that would walk through this verse by verse, word by word to answer some questions you may have. Look what he says in verse 3, I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. So that principle establishes there is order, there is order even within the Godhead. We saw that, God the Father created through God the Son. Here God the Father is the head of Christ, at the end of verse 3. Christ is the head of the man and the man is the head of the woman. There is an order established. Does that mean Christ is inferior to His Father? No, He is fully God and all the attributes and all the prerogatives of God are His. But nonetheless He exists in a relationship of submissiveness to the Father. The equality does not mean sameness, and in the order here, Christ is the head of the man and the man is the head of the woman. That's the order.

What is the foundation for all of this, as he talks about head coverings and so on. Come down to verse 8, for man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. Has to be order of creation. How was man created? Directly by God from the dust. How was woman created? Out of the man, from a side part of the man. Man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. You see, God's work for creation reveals God's purposes for the sexes. He created them differently, He created them with a purpose. He established an order in His creation. That has nothing to do with the fall. We say that well, because of sin........ You understand, this is God's intention as the Creator, this is His creation purpose. When He created male and female, this was His purpose. For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but the woman for the man's sake. We read that in Genesis, right? It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him. ______ illustrate ____________. What I want you to note is the creation account, here we are thousands of years after the creation, the Spirit of God directing the writing of the Word of God here, it is taken exactly at face value, exactly what Genesis says. There is an order established, that order has the man in the role of the leader, he has the prior position.

Come over to I Timothy 2. Obviously when we read passages like I Timothy 2 we're talking about conduct in the church. Some people say that the relationship of the sexes is limited, this is just for in the church. I read one man, I appreciate his work greatly and we use it here, but he was saying this applies to the church but not outside the church. So a godly woman has restraints about what she can do in the church, but outside the church she can do whatever. But in the church she has to do what God says here because that's God's creation design for the sexes. Well in God's creation design for the sexes there was no church in Genesis 2. The creation design for the sexes transcends all of that. This is God's plan for man as male and female as part of His creation, not limited.

Here in the church, verse 12, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet. Why? For it was Adam who was created first, then Eve. The order of creation. You see we're back to what the Creator did in creating this, even the order in which He created them was for a purpose—to mark out distinctions between them. They were to fulfill different roles. It's not just that they had physical sexual differences. The Creator made them to be different to fulfill different roles, and yet to be a compliment. And thus complete one another in a unique way. It was Adam who was created first, then Eve. And then the facts of the fall that came in Genesis 3. It was the woman who was deceived and not the man.

I read one commentator that I use regularly that I've appreciated his commentaries, how does he deal with this? He doesn't like what the scripture says about the role of the woman, so in I Corinthians he just writes it off as somebody wrote that in, it really shouldn't be there, even though there is no evidence of that. Here he says Paul really doesn't intend to talk about creation, so we shouldn't use that as a standard here. Well the Spirit of God directed him to say that's the foundational reason why the woman is not to be in authority over a man in the church. That is not to happen anywhere, but God does not expect the people of the world to function in obedience to Him. That's why His writings in the Old Testament are directed to Israel, because nobody expected outside of Israel to be obeying the Word of God. Doesn't mean they are still not accountable to Him because He's the Creator of all. They will ultimately give an account to Him. That's why He calls them to turn to Him, all the ends of the earth. But naturally He addresses it particularly to His people.

I want you to come back to the Old Testament, Leviticius. This is part of the Law, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Now what I want you to see here is when God establishes the Law for guiding the conduct of His people, Israel, built in that will be certain provisions that will guarantee the recognition of the differences between the sexes, male and female, from birth to death. Look at Leviticus 12, and I want you to note how it starts out here. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying. This is the word of God, now we have to be careful, this is not God trying to help His people fit into the culture of the day. Rather He is doing just the opposite. He wants them to be a separate, unique and distinct people. So He is giving what is His will for them, for the nation and their functioning. The Lord spoke to Moses saying. What He's doing here, He is now going to give instructions regarding the ceremonial purification for a woman after she gives birth to a child. Note what happens. Speak to the sons of Israel saying, when a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for 7 days. On the 8th day he is circumcised. Then she remains unclean because of the blood associated with the birth, for 33 days. That limits her activities. That's if the baby is a male—unclean for 7 days, on the 8th day he is circumcised, then there are 33 days until she can be pure. If she bears a female child she shall be unclean for two weeks, 14 days. She remains in the blood of her purification for 66 days. You see twice as long. And the sign of the covenant is given to the male child, he is circumcised on the 8th day. God did not choose a sign that could be given to male and female. The sign of the covenant is given to the male. You'll note, from birth there is a recognition of the clear distinction between the male child and the female child. The mother remains unclean for twice as long with the female child as the male child. We get into the reasons for what we want to see now is God marks out for His people a clear distinction and a recognition of a difference between the male and the female from birth.

Look over in Leviticus 27, note how the chapter begins. Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying. This is God's sovereign word. These are not cultural issues that Israel has adopted, this is the word of God regarding His will. This has to do with the valuation placed on people. In other words if you made a vow, there was a certain monetary contribution that was to be made as well. We'll just read part of this, we won't read the whole thing. Speak to the sons of Israel, verse 2, say to them, when a man makes a difficult vow he shall be valued according to your valuation of person's belonging to God. If your valuation is of the male from 20 to 60 years old, your valuation shall be 50 shekels of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary. Or if it is the female, you valuation shall be 30 shekels. So in connection with a vow, the price associated, the contribution, is 50 shekels for a male who is between 20 and 60, 30 shekels for a female between 20 and 60. If the male is between 5 and 20, verse 5, it's 20 shekels for the male, 10 shekels for the female. If they are over 60, then it's 15 shekels for the male and 10 shekels for the female. And it goes down if they are one month of age, then for a male it is 5 shekels, for a female 3 shekels. Obviously a vow made by a parent with this child. I want you to note, through all ages there is a recognized distinction between the male and the female before God. And it is to be acknowledged. Now you might think, it would depend on the health, the well-being. A man could have had an accident or could have a disease and be non-functioning and you could have a healthy woman. Well, if they are between that age what determines it is the sex, not the physical condition of the person, not the health of the person. His valuation is determined by his sex, and it will be different no matter if you start with the youngest age or you get to the oldest age. The distinction between the sexes is to be recognized and maintained in this realm.

Come over to Numbers 1. And here we're going to take a census in Israel. And again this chapter begins, and the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. Verse 2, take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel by their families. And how are the families organized? By their father's household, and we're going to count the males. But how is Israel arranged as the people of God? According to the fathers. People are right, even some of the critics of the Old Testament from a gender issue criticism, it's patriarchal. And that was the culture of the day. Well wait a minute, it's patriarchal because that was the instruction of God, the foundation here. I don't want to quarrel with my Maker. These are the father's household, this is how we'll take the census in Israel. These are my people, here's how they will be ordered. Here's how they will be counted—according to the father's household, not according to the mother's household. And we'll count the men. Why? We're taking this census to make an army. We'll count them, verse 3, from 20 years old and upward, as they were able to go out to war you number them. The women didn't go to war, there is a distinction between the sexes. Well what about a lady who really got good with a bow and arrow? She's not numbered. But that woman with the bow and arrow might be better than that man with the bow and arrow. Not everybody has to do hand-to-hand combat. We count the men, males. There is a distinction observed, that's all we're looking at. At this point it permeates the Old Testament.

Come over to Numbers 30, and that's all that we'll look at here in the Law. These have to do with vows, we looked a little bit on vows in another context. Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel saying, this is the word which the Lord has commanded. Again you see the constant emphasis, this is God speaking, this is what God has said. If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. So a man obligates himself with a vow before the Lord, he is obligated, no out. You have to do what you vowed to do. Also, if a woman makes a vow to the Lord and binds herself by an obligation in her father's house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself and her father says nothing to her, then her vow shall stand and all her obligations. But if her father should forbid her when he hears of her vow, then none of her vows stand. You see the father has authority over the daughter in his home. And if she gets married and her husband hears of her vow and he doesn't say anything, then the vow stands. But if her husband, verse 8, forbids her when he hears of her vow, then the vow is annulled. The Lord forgives her. It is not held against her because her husband or father, whatever the case, has that authority. No provision made that way for the male, but for the female there is. Recognition of the male authority. Even in making a vow to the Lord, the female cannot step out from under the male authority that God established. And if she makes that on her own ____ doesn't say, well the relationship with the Lord .......... Well wait a minute. No, because God's order in creation is to be recognized and honored. These are serious matters to the Lord. I realize the Mosaic Law is not in force for us today, but what we want to see is how God set out His purposes and plan as revealed in His creation and recognizing this distinction. We saw in the few passages we looked at in the New Testament that it continues to be recognized, the distinction and difference between and the male and the female. In Israel there were no female priests, priestesses. Yet in the culture of the day that was a common practice, to have female priests. But there were no female priests in Israel. So Israel did not adopt the culture of the day, they were adopt the instructions of their God who was the Creator.

There were to be no queens on the throne in Israel, and we recently studied the kings of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms as well as the United Kingdom. We found one queen, Athalia, in II Kings 11. And she usurped the throne by killing her own grandchildren, she was a usurper. She never validly held the throne. The legitimate king was in hiding, being hidden until he became of age to take the throne. Because that's not God's plan. It violates His creation plan and purpose to put woman in those positions of authority over the men.

Now we have a conflict. This world system is opposed to God, to His plans, to His sovereignty because it is controlled by satan. Just jot down I John 5:19, it says this. The whole world lies in the evil one, the whole world lies in the evil one. This whole world, this world system is under the direction and control of satan. Ultimately, God rules over all, but during this time of the rebellion of His creation satan has a certain sovereignty under God over this world system. It lies in His control. Come to John 8. Jesus is dealing with Jews of His day and there is a conflict. Note what He says, verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were you Father you would love Me. For I proceeded forth and have come from God, I have not even come of My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? Note this. It is because you cannot hear My word, you can't hear it with understanding. Why? You are of your father, the devil. You want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Verse 47, he who is of God hears the words of God, for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God. You see the whole world lies in the evil one, the evil one is totally opposed to God. There is no truth in him. The followers of the evil one are not able to understand the word of God. They may be like these Jews who have read it many times,but they don't understand it because God is not their Father. That's why it is pointless to try to reform society and get them to function biblically, because even when they do some things which are biblical, they are not doing it out of a heart desirous of pleasing the living God and functioning in obedience to Him. So it is meaningless. It's like the devil quoting scripture to Christ in the temptation of Matthew 4. He quoted it accurately, but to misuse it. Fallen man cannot please God, cannot please God. Romans 3 says as far as God is concerned, they are worthless.

So we live in a world, a part of a world system that is controlled by the god of this world, small g, satan, who desires to oppose God in every way, desires to have men, women, all of his followers refuse to acknowledge the living God as the Creator of all, because that would involve his authority over all. So he is constantly trying to break down his followers and accelerate their opposition. And they are happy to do it, they don't want to follow Him. Verse 44, you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father. These are not poor innocent people controlled by the devil, these are fallen sinful beings who are happy to follow the devil, because they don't want to submit to God, either. They suppress the truth that is revealed in creation by the Creator, they suppress it in unrighteousness, Romans 1. And what's part of the activity that leads to? Romans 1, homosexuality, a denial of the purposes and plans of God in creation. We need to be careful here we don't get our wires crossed, and we get caught up in the politics of the day and the social issues of the day. And our thinking gets clouded, and now we are glad to go after those we have superficial agreement with on social and political issues, when really by their actions they are denying what the God of creation has established as His purposes and plans in His creation. A part of that is the role of the man and the woman as male and female. It was God's intention for the man to be the leader and exercise his leadership and his authority in all those realms. And otherwise, woe to him who contends with the Creator.

You know Ephesians 6:12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenlies. And we need the full armor of God for this battle. We need to be careful. Our enemy is subtle and the constant pressure of the world and its thinking and then bringing up those who seem to be more like us. You understand the people most like Christ were not the Romans, were not the pagans, they were the Jews of Jesus' day. They prided themselves in the Mosaic Law, the pagans couldn't have cared less. But Jesus said you are of your father the devil, and you always want to do what he wants and you cannot fear the truth. I just want us as God's people to be sharp and clear on our thinking so we don't get deluded and to become excited about things that would turn us away from a sound, solid biblical position. There is nothing more foundational than the fact that God is the Creator and at His creation He has established what man is to be and the role he is to carry out as male and female. And we need that as a beginning point. And all of us as believers in the Word of God, it must be a starting point. And for all of us, we must give careful consideration, this God who is the Creator, who has established by His creation His purposes, His will, the roles for male and female is also the One who is the Savior. And how beautiful that the One through Whom all things were created came to this earth to redeem the creation that had become corrupted by sin, was living in rebellion against God, the enemies of God, hostile toward Him, dead in trespasses and sins has by His death on the cross paid the penalty for sin. Now God offers the free gift of His redemption. Turn to Me, all the ends of the earth, and be saved. He who has the Son has life, He that has not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him. How do you know? The sovereign God who created all things who has authority over all things has spoken and He is the only Savior.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for what you have revealed so clearly that we by your grace can come to understand it. And yet we realize, Lord, there was a time we didn't understand it, it didn't make sense. We were blinded in our sins, we followed the god of this world, we were by nature children of wrath. Lord, what a wonder you have brought about as our Savior. You provided your Son and you graciously drew us to Him through faith in Him that we might experience cleansing and forgiveness and have our blinded eyes open to see. Now we are privileged to hear your Word with understanding. May we be careful not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the making new of our minds so that we will be able to prove what your will is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Lord, for any here who do not know you, may this be a day when they bow before you as the sovereign God, the Creator of all, the only Savior, and place their faith in your Son, the One who loved them and died for them. Thank you for your grace, in Christ's name, amen.