Sound Doctrine: Gender and Marriage

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 is where we'll start today. We're on the subject of gender and marriage as we're studying through the New Hampshire Confession of Faith that was originated in 1833. This is the doctrinal statement that we have adopted as a church, and we thought it wise to go through it step by step by step and explore the doctrines in it. Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 28 is where we'll be here in just a moment.

I want you to think with me first of all on the subject that God created mankind both male and female and in His image. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 is certainly what is under attack in our day. Genesis 1:26 says this, "Then God said" — and keep in mind, God here is Elohim, which is plural and is amazing. From the very beginning we see a hint towards our Trinitarian God, meaning "strong one." In verse 26: "Then God said, Let us make man in our image" — again another indication of the Trinity, if your Bible capitalizes the word "our" there — "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 land, over all of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Let's pause for prayer. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this church transforming into a family discipleship church. I'll always want to see families worshipping together. So much is caught even above and beyond taught when it comes to children seeing their parents worship You, Lord, in spirit and in truth, and seeing their parents learning from Your Word. I pray, Father, that You would multiply and grow us according to Your will as a family discipleship church. And I thank You, dear God, as well for the Spanish church who started today in the training center who also believes in family worship. And I thank You, dear Jesus, for the Portuguese congregation in the chapel who also believes in family worship and strong doctrine. I pray Your blessings upon everybody here this day in Christ's name. Amen.

This particular passage eliminates today's confusion in regards to gender because it specifies there is male and there is female. There is no discussion in God's Word. It is what it is. And you see in this passage that male and female were created by God.

Now, marriage of a male and a female has immense blessings. Look with me, if you would, in chapter 2 verse 18 at the word "alone." Genesis chapter 2 verse 18: "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.'" This is immense. This word "alone" is striking to me. I feel like most men are very, very strong, and the extent of their strength is to the extent that they are, first of all, strong in the Lord, because Ephesians 6:10 says to be strong in the Lord. But at the same time, they are married, and two are becoming one if you are married. And the strength of that man is directly connected to the strength of his wife. And so if she is strong, then he is strong. And if he is teaching her sound doctrine and washing her in the Word like his duty is to do, then the strength continues to get stronger and stronger and stronger as life goes on. But I have seen in my pastorate many men who have given in to perhaps the emotional weakness of the wife rather than remaining strong in the Lord and rather than remaining firm upon God's precepts. I have seen it over and over and over again.

So it is best for men not to be alone because they need the wife. They need to be connected. One pastor told me like this: "Men are born disconnected." And their emotional connections need to be connected. And it takes the wife to be able to put them together. And as they get married, all of these connections start to connect. You're like, "Oh, that's what it feels like to have empathy. Oh, that's what it feels like to have mercy. Oh, that's what it feels like to care." Like, "Oh, I don't like all of this." But two becoming one kind of connected makes two whole. It's pretty neat how it works.

It is not good for men to be alone, but it needs to be done God's way. And not only that, a benefit of being married in chapter 2 verse 18 is that the helper — the wife — has purpose. Check this out. This is certainly not the idea in today's age. In verse 18 it says, "And the Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper, a suitable one for him.'" This gives the marriage purpose. And so when the wife has the idea of being the helpmate to her husband, that singular purpose comes to mind. Now you are a team in life.

And let me tell you, it is so strange to me to see how much feminism is taking over in today's age, where the wife would be independent and want her own independence, her own checking account, her own life, her own career. And she would think that what she has been created to be is being redefined by the world. Folks, it is just simply not true. The lies of the evil one want to redefine roles. And we need to push back on that type of thing and do a word study on the word "helper" and really embrace what it means to be a helper to your husband. Primarily the wife is to be a helper to her husband and a raiser of children, and then it is not against God's law at all to have a career — Proverbs 31 makes that very clear. But to usurp God's ways and to put more emphasis in other areas than what the woman was primarily created for is to get things out of whack. And no wonder there are so many divorces today, because we are not doing marriage God's way — the way God created it.

So the helper there is created for man. And then in chapter 2 verse 21 they enter into a covenant commitment and become one. Chapter 2 verse 24: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh." What a picture of unity here. It is absolutely amazing how as you go through marriage you start finishing one another's sentences, and you really believe the same things as you are growing in your theology, growing together to really become one. And you see oftentimes those who have been married for a long, long time — perhaps very, very elderly — that they will pass away at about the same time. Have you seen that? Have you noticed that sometimes that happens when one has been married for like 40, 50, 60 plus years? One passes and the other passes soon after. My grandparents were like that, and I had the privilege of doing their funeral, their celebration of life service. They were a picture of an honorable marriage.

So here in this passage you see where God created mankind and He made them both male and female and they are in His image. So we are image bearers of God. Before creation, God designed male and female to reflect aspects of Himself. And so the strangeness of a woman — a man might think, "Wow, that's weird." Well, that is in the image of God. And then for the female to look at the male and say, "Why do you do it that way? Why do you think that way, in boxes? You're so literal." Well, we're made in the image of God. There are aspects of our design that reflect the character and aspects of His being. So males and females are distinct. We live in a day and age where gender is being blurred.

The lines between male and female are being blurred even by what we would think would be conservative Christians. And that is a shame to see conservative Christians shrinking back from what thus saith the Lord. It's very clear in Scripture that there is male and female. Jesus verified the male and female genders in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 4. He verified that in the New Testament, quoting from the Old Testament. And He said in the beginning they were created both male and female.

So I'll ask you a question. What religion promotes the discovering of your own preferred gender? Secular humanism would be one. That's right. That's pretty much Satan himself. The blurring of the lines from the very beginning is no new attack from the evil one. The discreditation of God's Word from the very beginning is his aim. And so to blur the lines of gender is awful. If we fail to raise a generation under God, then in fact they will be under Satan. If we do not speak up and say what the Bible says about male and about female and about gender, I'm telling you this nation that was founded under God will be under Satan.

Secular humanism can certainly tear down a nation, but it cannot sustain a nation. And so we are on the brink of failure. We have all seen our country in a slow decline over the last four, five, or six decades, however you want to look at it. But now I think you would agree with me that America is in a freefall, with all of these different satanic ideologies creeping into our secular school systems and creeping in now into the church. The church has made such a mistake with trying to partner with the ways of the world to try and win the world. That is not Bible. That is secular humanism. That's worldly philosophy. And so we are to be distinct, and we are to be very clear and loving and adamant about the fact that there is a male and there is a female. If we fail to do this, then we have blood on our hands. Our children will live differently than we were afforded to live because we gave in to the sin of silence.

You must speak up, especially in your sphere of influence. Every Christian must speak up and say what the Bible says. That is how evil is restrained. That is how the lost are converted. And that is how Christians know how to live. The moral law is for those things. You must be given to those things. We must speak these things.

One who was speaking these things is Marcus Schroeder, a street preacher who was arrested for simply reading Scripture on the sidewalk. Perhaps you read this article. Watertown, Wisconsin is where he was. He was reading Scripture. And believe it or not, he wasn't even reading Romans chapter 1 during this drag queen performance. These men dressed up like women were performing lewd acts in front of children and coercing children to put dollar bills in their garments. Now this is against the law. In Wisconsin, you cannot sexualize children. That's against the law. But the drag queens were not arrested. Marcus Schroeder, an innocent Christian abiding by his amendment rights, just reading Scripture on a public sidewalk, was arrested.

Folks, we are living in a day and age where these lines are being blurred. And if Christians don't speak up and say what the Bible says and restrain evil, then we are going to be part of that generation that simply allows evil to creep in and change our cities, to change our churches. And then our children will suffer the consequences and we will move on with our lives and say, "Well, we sure had a nice life. We grew up in a great day. We had all these freedoms and our children paid the consequences." Listen to me. We must speak up. We must evangelize and disciple.

I grew up in a culture where we paid other missionaries to be missional. I grew up in a day where the preacher did the preaching. I grew up in a day where the teacher did the teaching. But as a Great Commission Christian, do you not see that the Great Commission is for Christians to go and make disciples of all nations? We all have this duty unto God because of His blood that was shed for you — to go and make disciples. The main verb: make. It includes both evangelism and discipleship in the same commission. And lo, I will be with you always, He says. Of course it's by faith to lead someone to faith in Christ. Everything is by faith. We must participate in His commission to be lights in a dark world and to share the gospel.

Listen, not only has God designed male and female, but God also designed His Word to work when it is spoken. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, Romans 10:17 says. And how will they hear without a proclaimer or a preacher?

If they have a Bible and it's on their shelf and it's covered in dust, it's not working. But when you speak the Word of God to them, that is the change agent that works in their life. That's what convicts of sin unto sorrow, unto salvation — 2 Corinthians 7:10. That's what works. Christian silence is sin. We must speak up. We must believe that the Word can change the heart. We must believe that we can spread the gospel and make disciples. No wonder we are commanded to speak sound doctrine.

Titus chapter 2 verse 1 — turn there, I want you to see it with me. Titus chapter 2 verse 1. You say to yourself, "I want to learn sound doctrine. I want to learn what the Bible says. I want to learn all these truths" — and so does Joshua. He's amending me. He's sitting right there, doing a good job, buddy. We have a family discipleship church on purpose. He's going to be a preacher.

All right, Titus chapter 2 and verse 1 — I'm still in Timothy. All right, here we go. I want you to recognize that you've got to speak these things. Titus 2:1 says, "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine."

Now, those of you who are really astute in Bible study, I commend you. I know that the author of this is Paul and it is directed to Titus and he's being commanded to speak sound doctrine. I know that. But move on to not only interpretation but to application. The application of this text is you must speak sound doctrine. You've got to get to the point where not only do you know sound doctrine and you believe it, but that you live it and say it. And until you get to the point where you can articulate what sound doctrine is, you are not yet at the level of maturity of a very young little church on the island of Crete, which Titus was tasked with renovating. Listen to me, all the way down in verse 15 it says, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you."

We have grown up in a false perception of the separation of church and state. For some reason, Christians have felt like they cannot speak to the political. It is biblical to be political. Listen to me. Politics are talking about morality. Who is the God of morals? Who created male? Who created female? Who articulates what sound doctrine is? Is it our government? Do they determine what a male and a female is? No.

Christians articulate what the Bible says and then the government is a minister of God — Romans 13. But if Christians do not speak up and say to our governmental authorities, our local authorities, our local representative, our Senate, whatever — if we do not participate and speak and be present and pressure and expect — then we get what we deserve. We are living in a day where Christians have been afraid to speak the Word of God because of these false ideologies right out of the pit of hell from secular humanism.

Do you believe that the secular school system is religious? Well, you should, because it's driven by the Humanist Manifesto, which is religious. They have fooled Christians into saying that public school is not religious. I'm telling you, if you don't know this already, you're behind. You need to know that secular humanism is a religion because it is very amoral. It doesn't teach anything about one gender. It teaches, well, if you want to be a cat, you can meow and we'll put in, you know, a litter box in the bathrooms for you and cater to that. And some of you know that that's a true story.

And if you want to develop your own pronoun, then we will make the professors say "zen" and "zer" and "them" and whatever. We are living in a day and age where things are being perverted, turned upside down. And for decades, Christians have not been very bold in the political arena, in the public community, and have not been on display daily and saying, "Nope, sorry, I can't attend that marriage of a man and a man because that's not a marriage." God defines marriage. And it doesn't matter if our government gives out a marriage certificate and calls it marriage — that's not marriage. I'm going to be honoring to God in everything that I say and that I do.

My presence matters. I pray for those who do not believe in one man and one woman. I pray that they would see the light of Christ. I pray their blinders would be removed and they would see the gloriousness of God's design in marriage — two becoming one — and how wonderful it is. I pray that too they would become one and see how marriage is the only illustration in the Bible that God has given for us to understand a glimpse of glory. Just a little bit of heaven, a taste of heaven is in marriage. Marriage is the only metaphor, the only illustration in the Bible that helps you to understand a union with Christ, being in heaven with Christ. The glories, the beauties, the majesties, the mystery of marriage — the mystery of two becoming one — describes us becoming one with Christ in heaven forever.

You see how when you do not see what marriage truly is, and what one man and one woman is, and how it is blurred, you have a low view of God and a poor view of Scripture. And if you tolerate that, if you enable that, then you are part of it. Enablers are part of the enablement. Think of it with drugs, think of it with anything else, think of it with all the different codependencies. If there is a person that helps someone — you've seen those shows where unfortunately people have gotten to, you know, six and eight hundred pounds, right? They can't even get out of the door anymore. They can't get out of bed. So sad. There is an enabler that has continued to feed that sin.

Today you've got DoorDash and everything else. But I'm telling you that if we do not speak, we are enablers. And it's worse than making someone six or eight hundred pounds, because we are enabling them to stay in their sin for eternity. And so the issue of not speaking and saying what the Bible says today is sin. It is flat out sinful to withhold the glories of God and the wonders of His Word from someone who needs it. It is selfish and it is utterly sinful not to say what the Bible says when you are right there, placed by the divine agency of God, to spread the gospel and to be a light.

And so, hence, if fathers do not speak forth God's moral laws to their families, Satan will step in and give them his moralities. Hence, if Christians do not speak forth God's moral laws to our city and to our country and to everyone around us, Satan will continue spreading his moralities in our city, in our counties and in our country.

We must speak up. Listen to this — even Richard Dawkins. I never thought I would quote him on the positive side of things, but listen to this: Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist who was in fact the recipient of the American Humanist Award, believes that transgender identity is fraudulent. He's right. Would you ever think that you were going to quote Richard Dawkins, a worldwide famous atheist, and say that he's right? Well, he is right, because transgender identity is fraudulent. And for that statement — for that biological and scientific factual statement — his American Humanist Award, which he had held for 25 years, was withdrawn. Can you believe that? And so the atheist Richard Dawkins has been canceled by the atheists who are pro-LGBTQ. Go figure.

You know what this proves? A whole lot. But by the way, in the end, evil turns on evil and they devour each other in the end times. I'm just telling you that even Richard Dawkins can say, "Nope, chromosomes say this, chromosomes say that, they are what they are." No blurring the lines there.

Families. Families. Speak the truth of male and female into your children and grandchildren. Deuteronomy 4:9 puts it on the grandparents to teach the truth of God's Words to their children and grandchildren. Psalm 78 in the first eight verses puts the duty on the fathers to speak God's truth to the children and their children. So that by implication, the father is still speaking the truth to his children while even they have children. How long has he been speaking truth until he can get grandchildren? But then it also says in verse 6, even the unborn yet to come — that they may know God.

If you don't speak up, then you very well could be part of an atheistic generation through your own lineage. And so the fathers have been given the duty to speak what is true so that their children and their grandchildren and their great grandchildren — even the ones yet to be born in Psalm 78 — will know God. It breaks my heart to see God and His truth being denied. This wokeness that is taking over our nation has even crept into many seminaries, many theological circles, many churches. This is a watershed issue for our country and world. And I'm going to go down fighting for what's right. Aren't you?

If this is a watershed moment, whether we win or lose is in God's hands, but I know one thing's for sure: I'm not going down without being faithful. I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. So are you. And then what I'm telling you today is what it takes — being very clear on these basic doctrines. And not to speak up on these clear doctrines is to participate in what happens. It's a watershed issue right now for our country. Our children will be arrested for hate speech that supposedly does physical and emotional harm to others, and they will be silenced and arrested because of simply being a Christian. This is going to happen.

So I think two things. Perhaps God would use us — Christians across the nation — to speak up and to prevent such an atrocity. Or if it is God's will for it to happen, then we would prepare our children and ourselves for Christian persecution and be blessed by it, and show them where there is grace in suffering, and show them where the strength of God will be with you no matter what. Do not fear persecution. Be counted worthy. Be one who would step up and speak up and depend upon God. He not only gives you the words for the moment when you need them, He gives you the internal strength and endurance to endure the pain.

I don't think it was ibuprofen or an IV on the cross when all the forefathers were martyred — Stephen in the book of Acts — that kept them to the point where they could sing hymns while they were being crucified and set on fire and stoned. I think it was God's sustaining grace that gave them the ability to not only remember the hymns and remember the song but to praise God through immense pain.

We should not be afraid of persecution, especially Christian persecution. We should run to it. Jesus said in John 15:20, "If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you." And for all of you Bible scholars, let's just do a simple observation, interpretation, and application. "If they persecuted Me" — Jesus is in the first person, talking to His disciples. Interpret that: Jesus talking to Christians. That's what He's saying. Apply that to your life now. Oh, got real personal real fast, didn't it?

"If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you." And so what are you going to do? Are you going to run and hide? Are you going to keep silent? Are you going to try and dodge the bullets?

Let them come. You know what meekness is? Meekness is strength under control. Jesus said to be meek. He was meek. He was mild. He was that sheep led to the shearer, yet silent. He was going to be crucified. He didn't say a word. He simply was truth, spoke the truth: "Forgive them, they know not what they do." We need to get to the point where we are willing to be not only persecuted and talked about, but willing to die for Christ. Revelation 2:10 says to be faithful unto death. And that is where we're going.

So gender today is a huge issue. Marriage today is a huge issue. And not to mention the whole pronoun issue — can't even figure that out.

Marriage — it's God's design and it's for the good of all creation. Marriage is the bedrock of all societies and families and even churches. So no wonder marriage is under attack in America. Marriage is under attack by the world, the flesh, and the devil. So we are part of this because we're made of the flesh. Don't forget in Deuteronomy chapter 6 where parents are commanded to teach their children God's ways morning, day and night. This is God's primary discipleship-making process. And Satan is trying to destroy God's primary discipleship process by eliminating or watering down what marriage is and what gender is. Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to divide the brethren. He wants to do all of these things. God created marriage, again, to display many things — one of them being His glorious love. Ephesians 5:25 — turn there as I start to wrap up. The glories of marriage are on display here and we can see God's glory.

We'll start in verse 22. The subject is marriage. Ephesians 5:22: "Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives" — and here comes the glory — "just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her."

Men, are you washing your wife in the Word and sanctifying her? You know that's one of your roles as the head of the household — to open up the Bible, to read Scripture with your wife, to read Scripture with your children and let the Word sanctify them. John 17:17 says, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth." We really make a big deal and want our families to do family worship at home. It's very easy — one, two, three. One: open up the Word, read the Word, read the Scripture. Two: sing a few hymns. Take a hymn book home with you. And then three: pray with your family. Families that pray together, stay together. One, two, three — family worship. Read the Scripture. Sing a hymn or two. So easy. Guys, if you don't have a good voice, I don't either. Bring it up on YouTube and sing some good theological hymns of grace and enjoy that with your family. It is sanctifying. It weeds out the disrespect. It weeds out the rebelliousness. It weeds out the sin that is rooted in their lives. You are able to dislodge Satan's roots and seeds that he has planted in your children's hearts and souls if you would spend time in the Word with your children.

You must be that sanctifying agent. You must lead so that He may sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. And this is amazing. In verse 27: "That He might present the church to Himself in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and blameless." This dual train of thought here between a wife and the church being sanctified and presented is glorious. As you look through the history of Israel and the processions of marriage, you see all of this on display. It is glorious.

And so now we set our gaze on things above. We set our purpose on things above. We are truly driven by the gospel, by the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't set our mind on things below like a chicken pecking in the dirt. We set our mind on things above and we go and we give ourselves and we pour ourselves out for the Lord Jesus Christ because He poured out His blood for us. He poured out His blood for us and we pour out ourselves for Him. And then He fills us back up. His mercies are new every single day. We don't want to be selfish Christians who sit on the couch and aim all of their time and money at comfort. We want to be ones who give ourselves. We can't serve enough. And when you're at the end of the day and you're exhausted from serving at the church or cleaning at the church or teaching or studying or ministering — whatever God has gifted you to do — after you have just given yourself to ministry and being a minister and all that you can, you go to bed with soul satisfaction and you sleep hard because you've worked hard. And then you wake up refreshed the next day. You cannot outgive God.

I believe with all of my heart that we need to amp it up and speak what thus saith the Lord and to say what a male is, what a female is, and what marriage is so that we can impact our families, our cities, our counties and our country. God wants you and me to be an Acts 1:8 witness. "Go therefore, and you will be My witnesses in both Jerusalem and then in Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth." That is a local, national and a global mission that God has set you on. Let's pray together.

Father, I pray that You would continue to bless us and help us to understand Your Word. It is sufficient for life and godliness. We need no tricks and gimmicks. I don't need to emotionally manipulate people here into obeying You on the outside because Your Word changes people on the inside. And Father, I pray that by preaching and teaching Your Word, we would be Your agents of change, that You use our tongues and our mouths for Your glory, that we would submit to You, that we would in our private time pray like crazy and study deeply so that we can understand Your doctrines and Your Word. And I pray then that we would poke our heads up once the day starts and go and be lights in a lost generation, to seek the lost like You did, Lord. Help us not to organize our lives with our finely tuned schedules around the things that we need to do so that we have everything taken care of in our own lives. God, in judgment, we will not give an account for how clean our house was or how well organized our things were. We will give an account for these spiritual things that are of eternal value. And God, I pray that You would help us to set our mind on things above and not on things of the earth — Colossians 3:2. I pray, God, You would convict us to do more and to say more and to speak more for Your glory.

God, You didn't stay in heaven and soak it up. You actually came here and poured out Your body and Your time and Your effort. You were persecuted and You preached and You personally made disciples. You are an example for us. God, help us to get outside of our selfish ways. Help us to truly self-reflect upon our lives and to refine ourselves, Lord, before You have to tell us where we're in error. You can show us Your ways, dear God, like the psalmist said. You can show us a better way to do this. Help us to be effective for Your glory.

I want to drag as many people as I possibly can to heaven, dear God. Please, like Isaiah said, use me. Here I am. God, I pray and I thank You for those who came today. May You bless them. God, if anyone is here and has not been saved, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit You would grant them repentance and help them to act on it and say, "God, I'm sorry for the things that I've done that have been against You and You alone. Forgive me of my sin. I believe that You died and rose again for my sin. Please save me." God, if anyone here has never been saved by Your Holy Spirit, I pray that You would grant them Your grace and give them the faith that they need to exercise, to be able to articulate and to submit to You. God, save souls. Let souls be saved here and baptized. Let them belong here at this dear church and let them know how to hold to the Bible and make disciples. Help us to continue to do this, Lord, for Your glory and for our good. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.