WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:06.240 Father, we give you thanks and praise for your word. 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:09.560 We give you thanks and praise that your word is true. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.320 We give you thanks and praise that even when your word is very hard to us 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:18.780 and seems to confront things in our lives that are close to our heart, 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:24.400 we thank you, Father, that you speak not because you take delight in the death of a sinner, 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:29.900 but you speak because your heart's desire is that we will turn from our wickedness and live. 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:35.740 That you desire, Father, to redeem and restore us in the person and work of your Son. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:38.780 So, Father, turn our hearts to Jesus. 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:44.159 Grip us with what he did for us upon the cross as we listen to your word. 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:48.879 And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:50.659 Please be seated. 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:59.500 So, as many of you know, I have several coffee places where I'm a regular. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.560 And in these places where I'm a regular, people eventually, the baristas in particular, 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:08.939 but also some of the other regulars eventually learn that I'm a pastor. 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.159 And we often have conversations. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.079 And many of the different baristas in the coffee shops that I go to, 00:01:16.179 --> 00:01:18.739 I eventually invite them to come to my church. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:20.840 I mean, they'll ask me where I'm the pastor. 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:26.620 And I was thinking about this a lot yesterday as I was working on my sermon some more. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:29.920 And this morning as I was driving in, what it would be like, 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:33.859 and I don't know, I have no idea whether one of the baristas that I've invited have come this morning. 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:35.879 I can't really see you very well. 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:40.819 The combination of the lights in my glasses, which are for reading, not for seeing in distance. 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:49.239 But as you probably know, many people who work in the coffee shops that I frequent are gay or lesbian. 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:58.180 And identify very closely with that, the LGBTQ and other letters community. 00:01:58.180 --> 00:02:01.160 And I was thinking, especially as I was driving in this morning, 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:04.540 what would it be like if this is the Sunday that they come? 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:08.260 Because whether you realize it or not, the text which Emily read, 00:02:08.760 --> 00:02:11.140 which we're going to look at right now, 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:16.219 is a text which speaks very directly to the biblical understanding of marriage 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:20.060 and of sexual knowing and of sexual identity. 00:02:22.260 --> 00:02:23.520 But that's what we're going to look at. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:28.280 And so it's really important to keep a particular thing in mind. 00:02:28.420 --> 00:02:31.060 And by God's providence, it happened to me on Monday this week. 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:35.460 There's these two really lovely older men who come into one of the coffee shops. 00:02:35.580 --> 00:02:38.760 There's one particular coffee shop where I do most of my sermon prep. 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:43.060 And there's these two older men, lovely guys from out in the country. 00:02:43.420 --> 00:02:45.340 And they come in, you know, once or twice a week. 00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:46.240 They've gotten to know me. 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:46.840 We chat. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:47.840 They know I'm a pastor. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.900 They never ask anything at all about spiritual things. 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:53.219 Just once we've had a conversation about something. 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:54.800 But they're just very, very, very friendly. 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.439 And so this past Monday, one of them came and tapped me on the shoulder. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:02:59.620 I was, you know, focused. 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:03.300 My first crack at Genesis 2, 18 to 25. 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:06.460 And one of them tapped me on the shoulder and said, 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.039 George, does that book have me in it? 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:13.039 And this is one of those times. 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:15.120 Somebody must have been praying for me Monday morning. 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:17.659 Because I said, without any hesitation, I said, 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:19.500 well, actually, it does talk about you in here. 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:21.060 And he was surprised. 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:22.240 He said, well, what does it say? 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.900 And it says, you're in far greater danger than you can possibly imagine. 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:30.040 And you have far greater hope than you've ever dreamed of. 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:34.060 And I wish I could say that we then had a spiritual conversation. 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.280 But he just laughed and went and sat down with his buddy. 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:38.400 But you never know what seeds are planted. 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:40.260 And that's true. 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:49.159 This text and the Bible as a whole warns us that we're in far greater danger than we can ever really, really, really understand. 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:58.479 But also that we're far more loved and have a far greater hope than even our most outrageous dreams have never even come close to it. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:01.319 So it would be a great help to me if you open your Bible. 00:04:01.399 --> 00:04:03.019 And we're going to look at this text. 00:04:03.119 --> 00:04:05.599 Genesis chapter 2, verses 18 to 25. 00:04:06.839 --> 00:04:10.919 And it's the second creation story. 00:04:11.299 --> 00:04:14.560 And it begins, the whole second creation story begins in verse 4. 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:17.019 But we're sort of skipping that early part. 00:04:17.019 --> 00:04:19.019 We looked at that a couple of weeks ago at church. 00:04:19.579 --> 00:04:22.180 By the way, if you need Bibles, there's some Bibles over here. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.240 You should just feel free to get up and get a copy of a Bible so that you can follow along. 00:04:26.939 --> 00:04:32.379 And what's happened is that this is the second creation story. 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:35.259 It's focusing more on the creation of Adam and Eve. 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.279 And in the first part, Adam is created, but not the woman. 00:04:39.819 --> 00:04:44.899 And, you know, other things are sort of said about how Adam is created. 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:48.339 But then in verse 18, the story continues. 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:50.620 Then the Lord God said, 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:54.620 It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:57.819 I will make him a helper fit for him. 00:04:58.379 --> 00:04:59.379 And just sort of pause. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:05.739 That little three-word, four-word, helper fit for him, is an important idea. 00:05:05.799 --> 00:05:08.339 It's going to be repeated in another verse or so, 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:11.379 which shows that it's an important idea to try to get our minds around. 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:13.759 So just the man has been created. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.139 That's how the story goes. 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:18.360 But it's not good that the man is alone. 00:05:19.539 --> 00:05:21.099 In fact, there's a little bit of a tension. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.620 If you've been reading from the beginning, Genesis 1, and then you read this, 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.639 you'll see in Genesis 1 that time after time and time it says, 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:28.819 It is good. 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:29.519 It was good. 00:05:29.599 --> 00:05:30.139 It was good. 00:05:30.219 --> 00:05:30.699 It was good. 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:31.560 It was very good. 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:38.040 And now we see this sort of second look, like from a second perspective about how God has created, 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.879 that the man has been created, but there's a not good. 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:47.060 The work of creation hasn't been completed because the man's alone. 00:05:47.939 --> 00:05:51.620 And in particular, there is a helper fit for him. 00:05:52.340 --> 00:05:53.639 I'll talk about that more in a moment. 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:55.639 That still has to happen. 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:57.459 Verse 19. 00:05:58.019 --> 00:06:04.779 Now, out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:09.819 and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. 00:06:10.479 --> 00:06:14.039 And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:20.600 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. 00:06:21.260 --> 00:06:25.939 But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:06:26.580 --> 00:06:28.520 And so just sort of pause there for a second. 00:06:29.580 --> 00:06:34.120 There's some details here in the story, which are all like, this is a text to really be meditated upon. 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:38.740 One of the reasons I'm preaching through the book of the first 11 chapters is that I think, 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:41.680 and I talked about this more in my first three sermons in the series, 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:47.500 that we're so afraid of looking at this because we're afraid of getting caught up with controversies 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:49.600 around evolution and young earth and all of that, 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.660 that Christians increasingly are afraid to look at these early chapters, 00:06:53.660 --> 00:06:55.120 but they're really central. 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:59.920 Like, if we don't understand these first chapters, it's hard to understand the rest of the Bible. 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:07.319 And we're afraid to look at them, to memorize them, to meditate upon them, to ponder them. 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:08.840 And that's one of the reasons. 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:10.699 Like, we're just facing our fears, folks. 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:12.039 And we're looking at these texts. 00:07:12.099 --> 00:07:13.099 They're not scary texts. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:14.319 They're very, very wise. 00:07:14.599 --> 00:07:15.920 And they're very, very helpful. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:16.959 And they're very true. 00:07:18.219 --> 00:07:20.680 And it's a very, very interesting little dynamic here. 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:22.079 The animals come out of the ground. 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:23.339 That's how God creates them. 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:24.899 That's the language which is used. 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:27.919 And God has this Adam. 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:30.919 And there's a not good because he's alone. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.519 And there's a helper fit for him that has to happen. 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:35.519 But God doesn't just create it right away. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:41.759 He has this, the naming of the animals first as part of Adam's awareness as well. 00:07:41.859 --> 00:07:45.120 That in a sense, he surveyed living beasts. 00:07:45.919 --> 00:07:48.519 And there's nothing fit for him. 00:07:48.620 --> 00:07:50.519 A helper fit for him is not found. 00:07:51.099 --> 00:07:53.699 So then the story continues in verse 21. 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:59.079 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:09.519 And while he slept, that is not God but the man, while the man slept, God took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:17.240 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.419 And just sort of pause there for a second. 00:08:20.159 --> 00:08:24.620 This is sort of, I mean, it's worth lots and lots of meditation upon. 00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:29.539 Obviously, it's both a true text, historically true. 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:39.659 But obviously, it's weighted with symbolism to try to communicate in a very, very simple picture language to us really, really deep truths. 00:08:40.180 --> 00:08:45.259 See, one of the things which is very interesting here is that the animals have all been created out of the ground. 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.340 But woman is not created out of the ground. 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:51.740 It's really actually very, very important. 00:08:52.060 --> 00:08:57.920 The text is trying to communicate to us that it's not that women and men are of a different nature. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:05.059 As you know, there's many religious systems which denigrate women. 00:09:06.099 --> 00:09:11.379 And Christians, to our shame, have often denigrated women. 00:09:12.539 --> 00:09:21.919 And there's many, many systems of political and social and theological and religious and spiritual talk that make it almost as if women are a lesser creature. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.259 That they're almost like our chattel. 00:09:24.659 --> 00:09:26.679 That we can almost treat them like animals. 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:29.359 That we can cover them up. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:35.239 That we can just boss them around in a way which is deeply denigrating to them. 00:09:35.839 --> 00:09:41.120 But what the text is showing is that woman and man are of the exact same nature. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.579 It makes it very, very clear. 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:48.739 This funny image, which for many of us, it's very easy to make jokes about it as if the Bible is really, really stupid and foolish. 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:51.759 But the Bible here is saying something very, very, very profound. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:57.799 This idea that men and women have the exact same nature. 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:01.860 That there's a fundamental equality in their nature. 00:10:02.819 --> 00:10:05.600 And this is a type of dynamite idea. 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:10.319 I mean, the church, we Christians, because we want to keep slipping back into religion. 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:15.500 We want to keep slipping back into accommodating to our culture, whatever our culture is. 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:20.299 And it's easy for us to keep getting unbalanced because we want to keep slipping into our culture. 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:28.059 But this is one of these healthy viruses that's constantly there challenging us to understand the fundamental equality, 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:32.340 the fundamental same source as man and woman. 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:37.280 And so when it first seems like an odd thing, like even mentioning the animals coming out of the ground, 00:10:37.340 --> 00:10:38.920 it's an important thing to meditate upon. 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:45.360 And the other thing, though, that's very important is this whole idea of that helper fit for him 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:49.220 is also going to be very important, as we see in a moment when it's going to talk about marriage. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:56.780 Because if Genesis 1, the first story of creation, I mean, both stories tell us different things about God. 00:10:57.379 --> 00:11:00.500 And they both stories tell us different things about what it means to be human. 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:05.679 And last week, when we looked at human beings being made in the image and likeness of God, 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:08.080 there's a lot of really important teaching here. 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:15.240 And now there's an unpacking of that, which is going to be connected to sexual knowing and marriage and sexual identity. 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.299 It's going to be talked about here in this story. 00:11:19.259 --> 00:11:27.340 But, well, okay, when I was younger, when I had to move, or when Louise and I and the kids had to move, 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:29.580 we couldn't afford buying boxes. 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:34.200 I mean, I don't even know if moving companies sold boxes to mere mortals back then. 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:38.800 So you'd go and you'd try to get a banana box, LCBO boxes. 00:11:39.160 --> 00:11:42.019 I don't know if any of you have ever moved with a whole pile of different boxes. 00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:46.120 You know, banana boxes, Apple boxes, LCBO boxes. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:47.960 And they don't fit together very well. 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:52.980 You know, that's one of the reasons why moving companies, it's so wonderful when you discover, 00:11:53.220 --> 00:11:56.820 whoa, you can buy boxes that all fit together. 00:11:57.420 --> 00:12:00.259 And it's such a great thing, you know, but boxes are all just boxes. 00:12:00.400 --> 00:12:06.360 They don't say, here we're going to give you a diamond shape, a star shape, a star of David shape, a round one. 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:08.960 They're all, they fit together. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:17.900 But what this text is trying to communicate, and it'd be more like an entire separate sermon with this idea of help or fit for him. 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:28.759 It's talking about the man and the woman, they fit, but there's an angularity and pointedness about each of them. 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:34.379 I mean, those of you who've been married or have dated, you understand your spouse has pointy bits. 00:12:34.379 --> 00:12:40.740 It's that my pointy bits can irritate Louise and her pointy bits can irritate me. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.240 And that's part of learning how to stay married. 00:12:43.659 --> 00:12:48.220 But it's not as if God just took two blobs of jello and squished them together. 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:52.500 It's not as if he had two identical cubes and laid them side to side. 00:12:52.500 --> 00:13:04.039 But that every human being, but man in a sense have a particular type of male, mannish, angular, non-symmetric shape, as does woman. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:11.059 But God somehow in the mystery of his created order has made it so that the man and woman can fit together. 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:22.459 So there's something equal, something complementary, and something different about the way that God has made the man and the woman. 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:26.000 And that's all communicated in this very simple picture language. 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:31.039 Very simple, easy to remember, but very, very profound and powerful. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:37.379 And then the text goes on, and we see here, verse 23, and this is really cool. 00:13:37.379 --> 00:13:44.179 If you're like me and you're a Christian and you believe that this is God's word written, and ultimately God is the ultimate author of this, 00:13:44.439 --> 00:13:53.799 what you see in the next verse in poetry are the only words spoken by a human being before evil came into the world. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:57.320 Isn't that cool? 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:04.580 The only recorded human words before evil comes into the world. 00:14:04.580 --> 00:14:10.080 Not quite entirely true, because there's a few little, you see some words with Eve, with the serpent, 00:14:10.259 --> 00:14:12.580 as part of the beginning of evil coming into the world. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:19.800 But just this pure with no evil, no shadow of evil, just an unfallen creation where everything is good. 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.379 And what are these words in poetic form? 00:14:23.280 --> 00:14:27.580 The man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:33.879 completely equal, and fit for him and him for her. 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:37.740 She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:43.900 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:45.500 and they shall become one flesh. 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:49.000 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:55.580 And that little image is an image of what, at the end of the day, we all long for, not to stand naked. 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:57.360 I definitely do not long for that. 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:05.759 But what we long for is a type of complete transparency and being of ourselves, 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:11.159 and being transparent and being unashamed and with no evil. 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:14.919 And there is a great human longing for that. 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:24.279 A great human longing to be transparent, to be open, to be yourself, without shame and without sin. 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:29.139 And every human being has it, and I think only ultimately the scriptures explain, 00:15:29.459 --> 00:15:32.779 why that longing is present in human hearts. 00:15:33.219 --> 00:15:36.519 It was woven into us at the moment of creation, 00:15:37.079 --> 00:15:40.019 that we should relate to each other and relate to the created order 00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:45.240 and relate to God in such a way that there's just this complete openness, transparency, 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:49.019 and ourselvesness without sin and shame. 00:15:50.299 --> 00:15:51.899 But here's the really big thing, though. 00:15:51.939 --> 00:15:53.799 I don't know if you noticed it. 00:15:53.939 --> 00:15:55.340 Look again at verse 24. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.860 So verse 23, we've had Eve is created. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:00.819 God brings Eve to Adam. 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:05.539 In a sense, if you want to use an old-fashioned traditional marriage analogy, 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:09.000 it's God who walks Eve down the aisle. 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.720 to meet Adam at the front. 00:16:16.319 --> 00:16:18.480 And we have the bone of the bone and the flesh of the flesh. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.079 So male and female have been created. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:25.840 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.199 And if you're like me, you go, one moment, that doesn't follow. 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:32.759 Like in our day and age, the existence of male and female, 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:33.940 people don't say, 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:36.920 therefore, because there's male and there's female, 00:16:37.060 --> 00:16:38.200 because there's man and the woman, 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:42.440 therefore, heterosexual monogamous marriage happens. 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.660 That's not a therefore to us, is it? 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:48.240 Not even close. 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:50.980 Like in our day and age, what we say is, 00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:51.820 you know, listen, George, 00:16:51.880 --> 00:16:54.080 I don't know what all this big fuss is with you Christians. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.220 There's this thing called sexual pleasure. 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:57.960 There's other types of pleasure as well. 00:16:58.040 --> 00:16:59.460 There's pleasure around food. 00:16:59.640 --> 00:17:00.440 There's pleasure of, 00:17:00.540 --> 00:17:01.660 there's aesthetic pleasure, 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:05.080 in terms of looking at a nice piece of art. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:07.720 There's pleasure in terms of nature. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.179 There's physical pleasure, 00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:10.960 just sort of just being alive. 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:12.460 And there's sexual pleasure. 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:13.939 And there's all sorts, 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.740 the only limit to the way you can experience sexual pleasure 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.059 is the limit of your imagination and your taste. 00:17:20.639 --> 00:17:22.039 And, you know, as long as you can just, 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:23.460 that's the therefore, 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.019 there's men, there's women, there's pleasure. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:30.319 And therefore, whatever allows you to experience pleasure, 00:17:30.419 --> 00:17:32.220 as long as it doesn't hurt the other person, 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:33.659 well, go for it. 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:40.720 It's, the therefore is actually a shocking thing. 00:17:41.939 --> 00:17:43.679 So I want to just say a couple of things. 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:45.679 These, I mean, one of the reasons I, 00:17:45.779 --> 00:17:47.259 by the way, just as an aside, 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:49.039 if you read books on preaching, 00:17:49.139 --> 00:17:52.299 the way I do points is not the way you're supposed to do it, 00:17:52.399 --> 00:17:53.379 just so you know. 00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:56.599 I'd get an F in sermon points. 00:17:57.779 --> 00:18:00.659 And, but one of the reasons I write these points 00:18:00.659 --> 00:18:02.220 is I know that some people were, 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:03.899 they, hearing words, 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:05.320 if they see it, 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:06.640 it also helps them to understand, 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:08.400 and that's why I write these points, 00:18:08.840 --> 00:18:10.900 even though I fail at sermon points. 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:12.300 If you could put it up, 00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:16.140 this is an important thing for us to remember now, 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:18.560 because some of us are maybe feeling a little bit uncomfortable. 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:19.980 One man, one woman, 00:18:20.180 --> 00:18:22.000 heterosexual, monogamous marriage, 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:23.540 and we're feeling very uncomfortable 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:26.220 uncomfortable because it doesn't describe us. 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:30.339 On Friday, I had the great privilege to speak on Parliament Hill 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:34.759 to some of the staff workers who are Christians on Parliament Hill. 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:36.460 And, of course, Parliament Hill, 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.619 I'm speaking to staff workers for political parties. 00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:42.159 And one of the things I said as I was going into this, 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:42.579 as I said, 00:18:42.639 --> 00:18:44.059 this is not a political talk. 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:46.119 This is not an us versus them. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.399 This is not looking for Twitter bits 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.100 that we can use to get people, 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.880 because all of us struggle with different sexual issues. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.040 This is not about people out there 00:18:57.040 --> 00:18:59.300 who are bad or are demonized 00:18:59.300 --> 00:19:00.920 versus us who are pure. 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:03.960 We're talking about deeply personal human issues. 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:05.900 And one of the things we have to understand, 00:19:06.040 --> 00:19:08.560 even though at first this Bible passage 00:19:08.560 --> 00:19:10.320 is going to seem to hurt some of us, 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:13.060 we have to understand that beginning and the end 00:19:13.060 --> 00:19:14.100 is going to be the same point. 00:19:14.099 --> 00:19:16.099 What is it that the whole Bible... 00:19:16.939 --> 00:19:19.459 The Bible is aware that it's only in the first two chapters 00:19:19.459 --> 00:19:22.480 that it talks about the world before evil comes in. 00:19:22.859 --> 00:19:25.039 Next week, we're going to look at the introduction of evil 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:26.079 into the created order. 00:19:27.659 --> 00:19:31.599 And most of the Bible, then, from Genesis 3 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:33.519 right to the end of the book of Revelation, 00:19:33.819 --> 00:19:38.759 is all about God's dealing with the presence of evil. 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:41.879 And what we need to know 00:19:41.879 --> 00:19:45.519 is that even when God's word seems to be hard to us, 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:49.660 that Jesus seeks, redeems, and restores 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:52.900 lost and ruined masterpieces. 00:19:55.299 --> 00:19:59.140 Jesus seeks, redeems, and restores 00:19:59.140 --> 00:20:01.339 lost and ruined masterpieces. 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:05.240 And if you're here and you're same-sex attracted, 00:20:05.500 --> 00:20:07.900 if you're here and you're transgendered, 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.600 you should not understand me to say that, 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:12.519 okay, now he's saying I'm ruined. 00:20:14.820 --> 00:20:15.940 No, no, no, no, no. 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:18.040 Well, actually, I am. 00:20:19.060 --> 00:20:19.759 I am. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:21.940 But I'm saying it about myself, too. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:24.880 And I'm saying it about every single person here. 00:20:26.300 --> 00:20:27.560 If you're a guest here, 00:20:28.100 --> 00:20:33.720 you are sitting amongst lost and ruined masterpieces, 00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:35.720 with no exception, 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:37.559 some of whom, 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:38.819 hopefully most of whom, 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:41.039 I pray all of whom, 00:20:42.180 --> 00:20:45.400 Jesus has not only sought you, 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:48.440 but he has redeemed you 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.539 and is working at restoring you. 00:20:50.539 --> 00:20:57.259 Some of us feel like the type of masterpiece we are 00:20:57.259 --> 00:20:59.720 is one of those great old Dutch masters 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:03.440 that just look so unbelievably lush and lavish and beautiful. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:06.000 Some of us are more like a Picasso, 00:21:06.460 --> 00:21:10.579 all weird angles that don't really seem to fit together 00:21:10.579 --> 00:21:12.859 and not really one dimension, you know, two-dimensional. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.299 And some of us are more like Van Gogh's. 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:16.759 We're not all the same masterpiece, 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:20.460 but the way to understand what Jesus is all about, 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:21.720 what the Bible is all about, 00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:23.660 is that Jesus comes and seeks us. 00:21:24.259 --> 00:21:27.640 What is that phrase of the church's one foundation by Luther? 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:31.339 From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. 00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:34.859 With his own love he bought her. 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:35.720 Is that how it goes? 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:37.220 And for her life he died. 00:21:37.220 --> 00:21:41.140 That very beautifully captures this idea. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:46.920 Every one of us is a masterpiece, 00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:48.319 is how God has created us. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.019 We are now bent and marred and broken by sin. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.120 We are lost and ruined. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:56.100 But Jesus seeks us. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:58.480 He redeems us. 00:21:59.220 --> 00:22:00.360 And when we are his, 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:04.779 he begins the process of restoring the masterpiece, 00:22:04.779 --> 00:22:10.480 just as if some horrible Nazi had stolen some artwork 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:13.819 and finally somebody discovers it now in an attic. 00:22:14.899 --> 00:22:17.680 And, you know, maybe it's a priceless Picasso 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.399 and there's water damage and all sorts of other damage 00:22:21.399 --> 00:22:23.339 and it's found, it's restored, 00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:25.399 redeemed to its original owner 00:22:25.399 --> 00:22:27.879 and the work of beginning to restore it, 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.440 to bring out the beauty begins. 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:31.859 That's what grace is. 00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:38.200 So, some of you might say, 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:39.519 I've had this said to me, 00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:40.879 it was a couple of years ago, 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:41.660 it wasn't recently. 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:44.399 Somebody said to me, 00:22:44.420 --> 00:22:45.139 George, you know, it's really, 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:46.599 you know, all those texts in Genesis 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:47.799 and, you know, in the Bible, 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:49.180 but, you know, especially, George, 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:50.099 those texts in Genesis, 00:22:50.420 --> 00:22:52.879 they just, they come from an age 00:22:52.879 --> 00:22:55.879 when they didn't understand same-sex attraction, 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:58.279 they didn't understand healthy same-sex desire, 00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:00.460 they didn't understand the capability 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:02.359 of forming sustained relationships, 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:04.219 they didn't understand the creativity 00:23:04.219 --> 00:23:06.819 and the beauty that comes from within that community, 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:09.079 and it was just a prop, 00:23:09.199 --> 00:23:10.679 to prop up the social order, 00:23:10.899 --> 00:23:12.219 and that's all that it was. 00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:13.259 You just have to understand 00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:15.039 that the Bible is limited to a time 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.899 where it didn't understand the range of things, 00:23:16.919 --> 00:23:18.479 it's propping up a social order, 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.179 and it's just out of date. 00:23:21.459 --> 00:23:22.899 It just has to be brought up to speed. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:23.459 It has to, 00:23:23.979 --> 00:23:26.419 the social order and social understanding 00:23:26.419 --> 00:23:27.599 is just different. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.579 And when I say that, 00:23:30.619 --> 00:23:32.039 it's a very compelling argument. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.759 In fact, some of us might even be getting 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:34.699 a little bit anxious 00:23:34.699 --> 00:23:35.679 as to whether, 00:23:36.439 --> 00:23:38.839 that I even would say that in public in a church. 00:23:39.659 --> 00:23:41.000 But here's the interesting thing, 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.399 it's very, very compelling, 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:46.480 but it's completely wrong. 00:23:47.699 --> 00:23:48.980 Andrew, could you put up the next point? 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:52.539 Biblical teaching on marriage, 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:53.599 sexual identity, 00:23:53.699 --> 00:23:54.659 and sexual knowing 00:23:54.659 --> 00:23:55.779 is perennially, 00:23:55.779 --> 00:23:57.160 I can hardly say that, 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.779 countercultural, 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:01.259 and perennially good news. 00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:02.720 Let's take for a moment 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:03.399 that this text, 00:24:03.539 --> 00:24:04.220 which I just read, 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:04.920 was written either 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:06.259 in around the year 1500 00:24:06.259 --> 00:24:07.779 or around the year 1300. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:10.200 In either one of those years, 00:24:10.299 --> 00:24:10.579 BC, 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:12.200 either one of those years, 00:24:12.279 --> 00:24:13.879 what did all the smart people think? 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:15.819 What are all the people 00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:16.940 who are the best educated? 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:18.759 If you went to the best educated places 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:19.700 in Cairo, 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:20.879 what we now call Cairo, 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:21.839 in Alexandria, 00:24:22.639 --> 00:24:23.440 in Babylon, 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:25.220 if you went to the places 00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:26.200 where the powerful, 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:27.000 the rich, 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:28.420 the best educated, 00:24:28.860 --> 00:24:29.779 if you went to them 00:24:29.779 --> 00:24:30.720 and asked them advice, 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:31.600 what would they tell you? 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:32.460 They would say that 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:33.519 Genesis chapter 2 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:34.360 is complete rubbish. 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:34.740 Why? 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:36.100 Well, because, George, 00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:37.500 obviously the smart thing 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:38.200 is polygamy. 00:24:40.600 --> 00:24:41.839 The entire world, 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:42.700 every culture, 00:24:42.779 --> 00:24:43.500 was polygamous. 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:44.940 George, 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:45.460 they'd say, 00:24:45.539 --> 00:24:46.200 it's just very, 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:46.960 very natural. 00:24:47.579 --> 00:24:48.460 A man should try 00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:49.460 to be a real man. 00:24:50.340 --> 00:24:51.279 And real men 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:52.319 who are successful 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:53.059 and powerful 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:54.180 and almost like a god, 00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:55.480 they deserve many wives. 00:24:56.539 --> 00:24:57.799 And it's just obvious, 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:58.220 George, 00:24:58.319 --> 00:24:59.279 that you have wives 00:24:59.279 --> 00:24:59.920 to guarantee 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:01.360 that there's legal 00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:03.059 passing on of property, 00:25:03.059 --> 00:25:04.779 but a man like myself, 00:25:04.840 --> 00:25:05.779 a powerful man, 00:25:05.840 --> 00:25:07.600 I also need other sexual outlets, 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:09.420 which is why I have concubines. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:10.900 And George, 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:12.100 it's just very obvious 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:12.680 from the way 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:13.680 that the world works, 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:14.840 all of the smart people 00:25:14.840 --> 00:25:15.700 understand it, 00:25:15.700 --> 00:25:17.000 that part of worship 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:18.100 is appeasing 00:25:18.100 --> 00:25:20.120 and dealing with the gods. 00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:21.200 And sometimes that means 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.299 sacrificing an animal. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:22.759 And George, 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:23.600 sometimes that means 00:25:23.600 --> 00:25:24.279 you go to the temple 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:25.279 and you have sex 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:26.720 with the priestess. 00:25:28.940 --> 00:25:29.680 That's what all 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:31.319 of the smart people understood. 00:25:32.460 --> 00:25:33.200 And in fact, 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:34.400 if you read the Old Testament, 00:25:34.580 --> 00:25:35.559 you'll see constantly 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:36.620 that the Old Testament 00:25:36.620 --> 00:25:37.580 people of Israel 00:25:37.580 --> 00:25:39.240 were constantly struggling 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:40.100 with going back 00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:40.799 to follow 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:42.299 what the smart people understood. 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:43.819 See, 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:45.000 the fact of the matter is, 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:46.519 is that when the Bible said, 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:47.400 then the man said, 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:49.099 this at last is bone of my bones 00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:50.220 and flesh of my flesh. 00:25:50.539 --> 00:25:51.779 She shall be called woman 00:25:51.779 --> 00:25:53.319 because she was taken out of man. 00:25:53.859 --> 00:25:54.339 Therefore, 00:25:54.859 --> 00:25:55.900 a man shall leave 00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:57.279 his father and his mother 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:58.779 and hold fast to his wife 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:00.460 and they shall become one flesh. 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:02.380 This teaching 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:05.119 is perennially countercultural. 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:11.059 In every culture, 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:13.359 at every time, 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.659 and it is always good news. 00:26:19.199 --> 00:26:19.619 Now, 00:26:19.719 --> 00:26:20.339 do you notice 00:26:20.339 --> 00:26:21.419 that verse 24, 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:22.759 it sounds like a funny verse, 00:26:22.919 --> 00:26:24.219 but it's actually really important. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:24.819 If you could put up 00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:25.779 the next slide, 00:26:25.959 --> 00:26:26.179 please. 00:26:27.459 --> 00:26:28.059 This next, 00:26:28.159 --> 00:26:29.059 this verse 24 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:29.779 tells us 00:26:29.779 --> 00:26:30.240 three 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:31.740 essential 00:26:31.740 --> 00:26:33.259 steps 00:26:33.259 --> 00:26:34.679 in an 00:26:34.679 --> 00:26:36.039 essential order. 00:26:36.159 --> 00:26:37.000 I can hardly say it. 00:26:37.059 --> 00:26:37.859 I'm having speech 00:26:37.859 --> 00:26:38.859 problems this morning. 00:26:38.859 --> 00:26:41.439 I leave forever. 00:26:41.639 --> 00:26:42.979 I hold fast forever. 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:44.539 I know sexually. 00:26:44.939 --> 00:26:46.259 Look at verse 24 again. 00:26:46.399 --> 00:26:46.619 Therefore, 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:47.659 a man shall leave 00:26:47.659 --> 00:26:48.779 his father and his mother. 00:26:49.399 --> 00:26:50.439 Very interesting, eh? 00:26:50.479 --> 00:26:51.539 It's one of the things 00:26:51.539 --> 00:26:51.859 about 00:26:51.859 --> 00:26:53.699 all of the biblical teaching 00:26:53.699 --> 00:26:55.219 on sexual relations, 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:57.219 like in marriage, 00:26:57.699 --> 00:26:58.639 all of the teaching 00:26:58.639 --> 00:26:59.339 about marriage. 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:00.139 It shows that 00:27:00.139 --> 00:27:00.539 there's both 00:27:00.539 --> 00:27:02.099 always a fundamental equality 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:02.779 between the man 00:27:02.779 --> 00:27:03.139 and the woman, 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:04.159 but it also shows, 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:05.759 sorry for a big word, 00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:06.919 time out, 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:09.180 big word moment. 00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:10.720 I'm not showing off. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:13.960 An asymmetric relationship, 00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:16.160 not a symmetric relationship. 00:27:17.080 --> 00:27:17.620 Like if you look 00:27:17.620 --> 00:27:18.820 at Ephesians 5, 00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:20.920 one of the tasks 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:22.300 given to the wife, 00:27:23.360 --> 00:27:24.259 believe it or not, 00:27:24.300 --> 00:27:25.519 is not to love her husband. 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:29.380 One of the tasks 00:27:29.380 --> 00:27:30.080 given to the wife 00:27:30.080 --> 00:27:31.300 is to respect her husband. 00:27:32.259 --> 00:27:32.960 There's several 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:34.080 in Ephesians 5. 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:35.639 And it's that 00:27:35.639 --> 00:27:36.899 the husband, 00:27:37.059 --> 00:27:37.579 one of the tasks 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:38.419 given to the husband 00:27:38.419 --> 00:27:39.599 is to love his wife. 00:27:41.619 --> 00:27:43.039 And there's other language 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:44.199 there of the husband 00:27:44.199 --> 00:27:45.119 being willing to die 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:45.720 for his wife 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:46.500 that's describing 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:47.319 what loving is. 00:27:47.399 --> 00:27:48.679 But it's an asymmetric 00:27:48.679 --> 00:27:49.279 relationship. 00:27:49.460 --> 00:27:49.759 It's not 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:50.839 husband, 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:51.699 respect your wife, 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:51.960 wife, 00:27:52.019 --> 00:27:52.879 respect your husband, 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:53.199 you know, 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:53.500 husband, 00:27:53.619 --> 00:27:54.199 love your wife, 00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:54.460 wife, 00:27:54.539 --> 00:27:55.139 love your husband. 00:27:55.399 --> 00:27:55.779 No, 00:27:55.919 --> 00:27:56.099 I mean, 00:27:56.119 --> 00:27:56.619 it's not saying 00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:57.099 that obviously 00:27:57.099 --> 00:27:58.039 women shouldn't 00:27:58.039 --> 00:27:59.059 love their husbands, 00:27:59.199 --> 00:27:59.619 but there's 00:27:59.619 --> 00:28:00.559 this constant 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:02.460 asymmetric aspect 00:28:02.460 --> 00:28:03.180 to it, 00:28:03.380 --> 00:28:04.360 not the same. 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:07.360 And it's very interesting 00:28:07.360 --> 00:28:07.920 in this text 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:08.480 that it talks 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:09.559 about the man leaving. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:11.240 Now, 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:11.740 it doesn't mean 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:12.200 that the woman 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:13.200 doesn't leave her family, 00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:14.640 but this is 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.880 three steps, 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:16.759 an essential step. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:17.600 And what it's talking 00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:18.160 about is that 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:19.180 for the men here, 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:21.460 I mean, 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:22.100 this is something 00:28:22.100 --> 00:28:22.819 that you can just 00:28:22.819 --> 00:28:23.460 meditate upon. 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:23.980 This verse 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:24.980 is well worth 00:28:24.980 --> 00:28:25.880 meditating upon 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:27.079 because it's marriage 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:27.779 is, 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.000 it's describing 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:30.960 not only marriage, 00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:31.640 but the place 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:32.240 of sex 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:33.140 within marriage, 00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:33.940 sexual knowing 00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:34.900 within marriage 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:35.620 and in life, 00:28:36.220 --> 00:28:37.460 is that the first step 00:28:37.460 --> 00:28:39.220 of an essential three 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:40.980 is the leaving 00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:41.500 forever. 00:28:42.580 --> 00:28:43.460 And in particular, 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:45.100 it's a primary task 00:28:45.100 --> 00:28:45.820 of the male. 00:28:47.580 --> 00:28:48.440 And I think, 00:28:49.120 --> 00:28:49.540 and we're going to have 00:28:49.540 --> 00:28:50.700 an interesting conversation 00:28:50.700 --> 00:28:51.180 around this 00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:51.820 over coffee 00:28:51.820 --> 00:28:52.400 and other places, 00:28:52.520 --> 00:28:53.740 I think it's because 00:28:53.740 --> 00:28:56.920 in an age 00:28:56.920 --> 00:28:58.160 where chauvinism, 00:29:00.040 --> 00:29:00.500 and if we're going 00:29:00.500 --> 00:29:00.920 to see this 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:02.279 after the fall, 00:29:02.420 --> 00:29:03.480 that part of the problem 00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:04.539 constantly for men 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:05.840 is violence against women 00:29:05.840 --> 00:29:08.200 and a desire 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:09.259 to lord it over women. 00:29:10.320 --> 00:29:11.259 And so the task 00:29:11.259 --> 00:29:12.200 is for a man 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:13.060 to abandon 00:29:13.060 --> 00:29:14.400 all of his other 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:15.620 sources of comfort 00:29:15.620 --> 00:29:16.360 and power 00:29:16.360 --> 00:29:17.759 to be only 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:18.860 for his wife. 00:29:21.120 --> 00:29:22.320 A complete 00:29:22.320 --> 00:29:23.700 abandonment 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:25.740 of power 00:29:25.740 --> 00:29:27.140 and prestige 00:29:27.140 --> 00:29:29.160 and any other 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:30.259 source of comfort 00:29:30.259 --> 00:29:31.380 or influence 00:29:31.380 --> 00:29:33.759 or importance 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:35.380 because in those times, 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:35.840 these times, 00:29:35.980 --> 00:29:36.880 the livelihood 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:37.360 would have been 00:29:37.360 --> 00:29:38.480 connected to the family. 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:39.540 So there's this idea 00:29:39.540 --> 00:29:40.920 of complete abandonment 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:41.780 of power 00:29:41.780 --> 00:29:43.420 to give yourself 00:29:43.420 --> 00:29:44.500 to your wife 00:29:44.500 --> 00:29:45.860 as the primary relationship. 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:47.980 And, you know, 00:29:48.020 --> 00:29:49.140 it can be extrapolated. 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:49.900 In the New Testament, 00:29:50.080 --> 00:29:50.820 it's extrapolated 00:29:50.820 --> 00:29:51.259 and developed 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:52.120 and it's part of 00:29:52.120 --> 00:29:52.920 the marriage vows. 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:53.400 if you go to 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:54.560 a Christian marriage 00:29:54.560 --> 00:29:55.900 and forsaking 00:29:55.900 --> 00:29:56.800 all others 00:29:56.800 --> 00:29:58.380 is, 00:29:58.820 --> 00:29:59.779 but it's a special 00:29:59.779 --> 00:30:00.840 task given to the man. 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:01.980 The second 00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:03.060 is that they both 00:30:03.060 --> 00:30:04.500 hold fast forever 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:05.320 and hold fast 00:30:05.320 --> 00:30:06.580 is covenant language. 00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:08.500 It's the language 00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:09.680 of, 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.180 of being close, 00:30:12.360 --> 00:30:13.340 of committing 00:30:13.340 --> 00:30:14.400 yourself to the other. 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:15.300 Not only do you, 00:30:15.300 --> 00:30:16.000 you leave 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:16.800 the other sources 00:30:16.800 --> 00:30:17.400 of power, 00:30:17.500 --> 00:30:18.160 the other sources 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:18.960 that will give you 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:19.980 direction, 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:20.720 so to speak, 00:30:20.800 --> 00:30:21.500 the other sources 00:30:21.500 --> 00:30:22.140 that will be 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:22.980 of your power 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:23.480 and your influence 00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:24.799 and you're learning 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:25.559 because now 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:26.619 we're fallen human beings 00:30:26.619 --> 00:30:27.079 where evil 00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:27.960 has come into the world. 00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:29.500 It's not describing 00:30:29.500 --> 00:30:30.119 how marriages 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:31.140 actually work, 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:31.880 it's describing 00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:32.680 how God created 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:33.660 marriages to work. 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:36.420 And so the thrust now 00:30:36.420 --> 00:30:37.980 is on the holding fast. 00:30:38.099 --> 00:30:39.240 It's covenant language, 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:40.119 it's language 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:41.019 of holding fast 00:30:41.019 --> 00:30:41.480 till death 00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:42.140 do us part. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.079 It's the language 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:44.799 of commitment, 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:45.940 it's the language 00:30:45.940 --> 00:30:47.000 also implied 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:48.579 within this whole fast 00:30:48.579 --> 00:30:50.240 of something public 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:50.880 and communal. 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:52.519 and marked. 00:30:53.420 --> 00:30:53.960 In other words, 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:54.960 it's not describing 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:55.880 two people 00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:57.079 living together 00:30:57.079 --> 00:30:58.099 and then at some point 00:30:58.099 --> 00:30:58.420 in time 00:30:58.420 --> 00:30:59.180 they sort of realize 00:30:59.180 --> 00:30:59.680 that they've been 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:00.380 stuck together 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:01.160 for a long time 00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:01.720 and maybe they'll 00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:02.779 continue for a while 00:31:02.779 --> 00:31:04.000 and there's nothing 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:04.519 formal, 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:05.019 there's nothing 00:31:05.019 --> 00:31:05.740 to mark it. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:08.259 But this whole fast, 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:08.920 this whole idea 00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:09.619 of a covenant 00:31:09.619 --> 00:31:10.440 of something 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:11.319 which goes on 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:12.680 which has some degree 00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:13.460 of formality 00:31:13.460 --> 00:31:14.279 of public, 00:31:14.980 --> 00:31:16.299 of yes, 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:18.400 I will to it. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:20.220 And so first 00:31:20.220 --> 00:31:21.099 there's the leaving, 00:31:21.500 --> 00:31:22.480 second there's 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:23.319 this commitment 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:24.460 and of holding fast 00:31:24.460 --> 00:31:25.299 and then 00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:27.180 the third thing 00:31:27.180 --> 00:31:29.119 is the sexual knowing, 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:30.460 sexual knowing. 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:32.480 Look again 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:33.259 at verse 24, 00:31:33.420 --> 00:31:34.039 therefore a man 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:35.019 shall leave his father 00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:35.660 and his mother 00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:37.099 and hold fast 00:31:37.099 --> 00:31:37.819 to his wife 00:31:37.819 --> 00:31:38.940 and they shall 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:40.119 become one flesh. 00:31:41.099 --> 00:31:42.500 In this particular context 00:31:42.500 --> 00:31:44.920 it's a very polite way 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:45.539 of talking about 00:31:45.539 --> 00:31:46.420 sexual knowing. 00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:50.720 and this is a very 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:51.940 hard thing for us, 00:31:52.019 --> 00:31:52.440 isn't it? 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:56.600 This is a very 00:31:56.600 --> 00:31:57.840 hard thing for us. 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:02.620 So just to help, 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:04.019 before I sort of talk 00:32:04.019 --> 00:32:04.680 a little bit about 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:05.900 how this is good news 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:06.240 for us, 00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:06.820 if you could put up 00:32:06.820 --> 00:32:07.400 the next slide, 00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:08.160 I just want to make sure 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:08.720 we understand 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:09.300 what the Bible 00:32:09.300 --> 00:32:10.039 is saying here. 00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:11.940 In the beginning, 00:32:12.859 --> 00:32:13.879 the good God 00:32:13.879 --> 00:32:15.460 created a good creation 00:32:15.460 --> 00:32:17.000 with faithful, 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:17.920 monogamous, 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:19.700 heterosexual marriage 00:32:19.700 --> 00:32:21.359 as an essential, 00:32:21.980 --> 00:32:23.299 natural feature. 00:32:23.299 --> 00:32:26.119 That's what the Bible 00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:26.720 is claiming. 00:32:27.659 --> 00:32:28.399 Remember the Bible 00:32:28.399 --> 00:32:29.680 is making a very big claim 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:30.819 that things don't just 00:32:30.819 --> 00:32:31.619 happen completely 00:32:31.619 --> 00:32:32.460 by chance 00:32:32.460 --> 00:32:33.759 and by accident 00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:35.440 and purely by cause 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:35.899 and effect, 00:32:36.059 --> 00:32:36.899 that there's actually, 00:32:37.180 --> 00:32:37.859 that the universe 00:32:37.859 --> 00:32:39.099 in a sense is designed, 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:40.879 that it's created 00:32:40.879 --> 00:32:42.519 with a plan 00:32:42.519 --> 00:32:44.119 and a design feature 00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:44.440 to it 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:45.139 which scientists 00:32:45.139 --> 00:32:46.079 can understand 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:47.559 and begin to understand 00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:48.460 more and more and more. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:49.740 And you talk to 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:51.119 physicists and scientists 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:51.599 in the room 00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:52.139 and they'll tell you 00:32:52.139 --> 00:32:52.700 the more they know, 00:32:52.779 --> 00:32:53.240 the more they know, 00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:53.980 they don't know. 00:32:54.819 --> 00:32:56.120 But that's another thing. 00:32:56.539 --> 00:32:57.599 But what this text is saying 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:58.180 is making a very, 00:32:58.299 --> 00:32:58.900 very big claim. 00:32:58.980 --> 00:32:59.339 It's saying that 00:32:59.339 --> 00:32:59.880 in the beginning, 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:00.720 the good God 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:01.920 created a good creation 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:02.819 with faithful, 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:03.599 monogamous, 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:05.059 heterosexual marriage 00:33:05.059 --> 00:33:06.740 as an essential, 00:33:07.059 --> 00:33:08.120 natural feature. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:09.160 Listen again 00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:10.579 to verse 23 and 24. 00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:11.599 Then the man said, 00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:12.299 this at last 00:33:12.299 --> 00:33:13.359 is bone of my bones 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:14.440 and flesh of my flesh. 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:15.559 She shall be called woman 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:16.920 because she was taken 00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:17.500 out of man. 00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:18.180 Therefore, 00:33:18.299 --> 00:33:19.099 a man shall leave 00:33:19.099 --> 00:33:20.200 his father and his mother. 00:33:20.740 --> 00:33:21.240 The therefore, 00:33:21.380 --> 00:33:21.559 right? 00:33:21.859 --> 00:33:22.660 A man shall leave 00:33:22.660 --> 00:33:23.660 his father and his mother 00:33:23.660 --> 00:33:25.019 and hold fast to his wife 00:33:25.019 --> 00:33:26.320 and they shall become 00:33:26.320 --> 00:33:26.960 one flesh. 00:33:27.180 --> 00:33:27.759 If you could put up 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:28.380 the next slide, 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:28.759 Andrew, 00:33:29.600 --> 00:33:31.040 just to make sure 00:33:31.040 --> 00:33:32.120 we understand it. 00:33:32.220 --> 00:33:32.779 And some of you 00:33:32.779 --> 00:33:33.300 don't understand 00:33:33.300 --> 00:33:33.840 this language 00:33:33.840 --> 00:33:34.980 of social construct, 00:33:35.120 --> 00:33:35.840 but some of you 00:33:35.840 --> 00:33:37.380 work more in arts 00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:38.259 or social science 00:33:38.259 --> 00:33:39.380 or legal environment. 00:33:39.540 --> 00:33:40.100 And so you maybe 00:33:40.100 --> 00:33:41.040 have a bit of an understanding 00:33:41.040 --> 00:33:41.900 of what it is. 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:42.620 But I want to make sure 00:33:42.620 --> 00:33:44.060 I'm nailing it here 00:33:44.060 --> 00:33:45.920 that I'm making it clear 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:47.259 to us what the Bible's saying. 00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:48.060 When it says, 00:33:48.620 --> 00:33:49.120 this at last 00:33:49.120 --> 00:33:50.120 is bone of my bones 00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:51.119 and flesh of my flesh. 00:33:51.199 --> 00:33:52.119 She shall be called woman 00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:53.000 because she was taken 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:53.559 out of man, 00:33:53.879 --> 00:33:55.119 the helper fit for him. 00:33:55.579 --> 00:33:55.819 Therefore, 00:33:55.979 --> 00:33:56.619 a man shall leave 00:33:56.619 --> 00:33:57.619 his father and his mother 00:33:57.619 --> 00:33:58.779 and hold fast to his wife 00:33:58.779 --> 00:33:59.519 and they shall become 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:00.119 one flesh. 00:34:00.439 --> 00:34:01.699 What the text is saying here 00:34:01.699 --> 00:34:02.559 is that monogamous 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:03.819 heterosexual marriage 00:34:03.819 --> 00:34:04.779 is not 00:34:04.779 --> 00:34:06.919 a social construct. 00:34:08.059 --> 00:34:08.859 It is woven 00:34:08.859 --> 00:34:09.619 into creation 00:34:09.619 --> 00:34:10.339 by God 00:34:10.339 --> 00:34:11.219 from the beginning. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:12.799 What's a social construct? 00:34:13.179 --> 00:34:14.400 Social construct is, 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:14.739 you know what, 00:34:14.839 --> 00:34:15.159 George? 00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:16.880 You know, 00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:17.219 once again, 00:34:17.219 --> 00:34:18.379 it's all just about pleasure 00:34:18.379 --> 00:34:20.059 and not hurting people 00:34:20.059 --> 00:34:20.559 and so, 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:20.899 George, 00:34:20.980 --> 00:34:21.859 since it's about pleasure 00:34:21.859 --> 00:34:22.639 and not hurting people, 00:34:22.759 --> 00:34:23.639 like why isn't it 00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:23.839 that, 00:34:24.379 --> 00:34:24.939 you know, 00:34:25.059 --> 00:34:25.719 that you can have 00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:27.299 like whatever marriage is, 00:34:27.339 --> 00:34:28.419 it's just a contract, 00:34:28.659 --> 00:34:28.959 George. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:29.980 That's all it is. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:30.959 It's just a contract 00:34:30.959 --> 00:34:33.039 and so why can't 00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:34.419 completely willing people 00:34:34.419 --> 00:34:35.399 as long as they're of age 00:34:35.399 --> 00:34:36.319 and nobody's being hurt 00:34:36.319 --> 00:34:37.419 just have contracts? 00:34:37.959 --> 00:34:39.379 Contracts that express love. 00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:40.379 Why can't, 00:34:40.419 --> 00:34:40.759 it's just a, 00:34:40.919 --> 00:34:41.079 George, 00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:41.619 George, 00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:42.639 that's just something 00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:43.259 which developed 00:34:43.259 --> 00:34:44.199 in the 50s 00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:44.899 or the 30s 00:34:44.899 --> 00:34:45.239 or whatever, 00:34:45.359 --> 00:34:46.339 this concept of marriage. 00:34:46.340 --> 00:34:48.300 It's just a social construct 00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:51.920 and, 00:34:52.220 --> 00:34:53.200 you know, 00:34:53.260 --> 00:34:53.539 obviously, 00:34:53.620 --> 00:34:54.100 if I was having 00:34:54.100 --> 00:34:55.539 a discussion about this, 00:34:55.900 --> 00:34:56.180 you know, 00:34:56.240 --> 00:34:57.500 at a university faculty 00:34:57.500 --> 00:34:58.800 that don't believe the Bible, 00:34:58.940 --> 00:35:00.340 I would talk about this 00:35:00.340 --> 00:35:01.059 in a different way 00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:03.760 but before we talk about it 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:04.320 in different ways, 00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:04.980 we have to understand 00:35:04.980 --> 00:35:06.140 what the Bible itself teaches 00:35:06.140 --> 00:35:08.340 and what the Bible here 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:09.420 is making very clear 00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:10.960 is that monogamous, 00:35:11.140 --> 00:35:12.079 heterosexual marriage 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:14.579 is not a social construct. 00:35:14.579 --> 00:35:15.739 That's because of the word 00:35:15.739 --> 00:35:16.259 therefore. 00:35:19.420 --> 00:35:20.059 But that, 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:20.519 in fact, 00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:21.819 it is woven into creation 00:35:21.819 --> 00:35:22.440 by God 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:23.380 from the beginning. 00:35:23.980 --> 00:35:24.639 If you could put up 00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:25.279 the next one. 00:35:27.219 --> 00:35:28.340 So what this text 00:35:28.340 --> 00:35:29.360 is in a sense saying, 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:30.539 now that we understand 00:35:30.539 --> 00:35:31.500 how it is that God 00:35:31.500 --> 00:35:32.659 has created men and women 00:35:32.659 --> 00:35:34.319 and God has created 00:35:34.319 --> 00:35:35.299 a place 00:35:35.299 --> 00:35:36.759 within creation, 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:37.599 created order 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:38.380 for marriage 00:35:38.380 --> 00:35:39.960 that it's somehow natural 00:35:39.960 --> 00:35:41.519 to God's original 00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:42.639 creational intentions 00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:44.279 and that therefore 00:35:44.279 --> 00:35:45.440 even sexual identity 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:46.199 is to be understood 00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:47.259 within this text 00:35:47.259 --> 00:35:48.819 just as it was last week 00:35:48.819 --> 00:35:49.420 when we talked about 00:35:49.420 --> 00:35:50.299 the image of God 00:35:50.299 --> 00:35:51.539 and that therefore 00:35:51.539 --> 00:35:52.759 out of the way 00:35:52.759 --> 00:35:53.879 that God created 00:35:53.879 --> 00:35:54.980 human beings 00:35:54.980 --> 00:35:56.019 and originally 00:35:56.019 --> 00:35:56.920 before evil 00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.279 that therefore 00:35:58.279 --> 00:36:00.339 the place of sexual knowing 00:36:00.339 --> 00:36:02.139 comes after 00:36:02.139 --> 00:36:03.460 I have left 00:36:03.460 --> 00:36:05.819 and after 00:36:05.819 --> 00:36:08.099 I have held fast 00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:09.960 and then 00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:11.659 with the one woman 00:36:11.659 --> 00:36:13.940 there is sexual knowing. 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:16.900 And so what the Bible 00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:17.860 is teaching here 00:36:17.860 --> 00:36:19.219 and this helps us 00:36:19.219 --> 00:36:19.659 to understand 00:36:19.659 --> 00:36:20.299 all of the rest 00:36:20.299 --> 00:36:21.559 of the biblical teaching 00:36:21.559 --> 00:36:22.400 because of course 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:23.259 evil has come 00:36:23.259 --> 00:36:23.880 into the world. 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:25.920 Brokenness 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:28.480 has come into the world 00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:29.239 and temptation 00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:30.400 has come into the world 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:33.139 and cheating 00:36:33.139 --> 00:36:33.699 and 00:36:33.699 --> 00:36:36.139 of all sorts 00:36:36.139 --> 00:36:36.940 of different types 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:37.880 has come into the world. 00:36:38.099 --> 00:36:39.739 So you see 00:36:39.739 --> 00:36:40.579 from this text 00:36:40.579 --> 00:36:41.579 follows something 00:36:41.579 --> 00:36:43.440 that all sexual stimulation 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:44.960 or sexual knowing 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:46.179 outside 00:36:46.179 --> 00:36:47.500 a faithful 00:36:47.500 --> 00:36:48.259 monogamous 00:36:48.259 --> 00:36:49.699 heterosexual marriage 00:36:49.699 --> 00:36:51.440 is both a sin 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:53.779 and 00:36:53.779 --> 00:36:55.659 a violation 00:36:55.659 --> 00:36:56.759 of how God 00:36:56.759 --> 00:36:57.559 created us. 00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:01.380 You see 00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:02.259 that's the whole point 00:37:02.259 --> 00:37:03.019 of this therefore. 00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:03.139 therefore. 00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:05.679 It's a big therefore. 00:37:06.860 --> 00:37:08.099 Like it's a really, 00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:08.519 really, 00:37:08.599 --> 00:37:08.880 really, 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:09.940 really big therefore. 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:10.840 And you know 00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:11.739 within this whole text 00:37:11.739 --> 00:37:12.719 I didn't mention this 00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:13.340 but if you go back 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:14.239 to verse 18 00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:15.539 when it talks 00:37:15.539 --> 00:37:16.460 about the man 00:37:16.460 --> 00:37:16.980 being alone 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:17.519 and the helper 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:18.179 fit for him 00:37:18.179 --> 00:37:19.519 that's an extremely 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:21.179 highly emphatic. 00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:22.519 In other words 00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:23.280 if we were to try 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:24.559 to write that 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:25.039 in a 00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:25.880 print that 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:26.300 in a way 00:37:26.300 --> 00:37:27.719 that brings out 00:37:27.719 --> 00:37:28.000 what 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.019 the original language 00:37:30.019 --> 00:37:30.780 is trying to do 00:37:30.780 --> 00:37:31.540 those first 00:37:31.540 --> 00:37:32.540 you know 00:37:32.540 --> 00:37:34.360 it is not good 00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:35.100 that the man 00:37:35.100 --> 00:37:35.780 should be alone 00:37:35.780 --> 00:37:36.480 I will make him 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:37.560 a helper fit for him 00:37:37.560 --> 00:37:38.420 not only should it be 00:37:38.420 --> 00:37:38.960 bolded 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:39.560 but the font 00:37:39.560 --> 00:37:40.640 should be twice as big. 00:37:42.100 --> 00:37:43.200 It should jump out 00:37:43.200 --> 00:37:43.760 at us 00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:45.040 this idea 00:37:45.040 --> 00:37:45.600 of the helper 00:37:45.600 --> 00:37:46.300 fit for him 00:37:46.300 --> 00:37:47.400 and the complementarity 00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:48.100 which leads 00:37:48.100 --> 00:37:48.720 to the creation 00:37:48.720 --> 00:37:49.300 of the woman 00:37:49.300 --> 00:37:50.080 the helper 00:37:50.080 --> 00:37:50.920 fit for him 00:37:50.920 --> 00:37:51.900 equal 00:37:51.900 --> 00:37:52.580 but somehow 00:37:52.580 --> 00:37:53.360 complementary 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:54.740 and different 00:37:54.740 --> 00:37:57.780 and the man 00:37:57.780 --> 00:37:58.940 shall leave 00:37:58.940 --> 00:38:00.480 his father 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:00.940 and his mother 00:38:00.940 --> 00:38:01.519 all sources 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:02.059 of power 00:38:02.059 --> 00:38:02.639 and identity 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:04.099 separate from his wife 00:38:04.099 --> 00:38:06.380 and hold fast 00:38:06.380 --> 00:38:07.800 both hold fast 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:08.440 to each other 00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:09.539 and then comes 00:38:09.539 --> 00:38:10.400 the sexual knowing 00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:12.159 that 00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:13.760 what is not 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:14.380 from that 00:38:14.380 --> 00:38:15.539 is not only a sin 00:38:15.539 --> 00:38:17.079 but is a violation 00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:17.840 of how God 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:18.679 created us 00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:22.579 which is a hard 00:38:22.579 --> 00:38:22.960 teaching 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:23.719 isn't it folks? 00:38:25.740 --> 00:38:26.740 See that's why 00:38:26.740 --> 00:38:27.440 I began 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:27.940 by giving 00:38:27.940 --> 00:38:29.139 the end 00:38:29.139 --> 00:38:29.799 how 00:38:29.799 --> 00:38:32.039 Jesus Christ 00:38:32.039 --> 00:38:32.539 seeks 00:38:32.539 --> 00:38:33.059 redeems 00:38:33.059 --> 00:38:33.879 and restores 00:38:33.879 --> 00:38:34.440 lost 00:38:34.440 --> 00:38:34.980 and ruined 00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:36.000 masterpieces 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:38.519 that's what's 00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:39.460 going on 00:38:39.460 --> 00:38:42.599 you know 00:38:42.599 --> 00:38:43.099 last week 00:38:43.099 --> 00:38:43.440 I gave 00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:43.659 a 00:38:43.659 --> 00:38:44.400 I got a little 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:45.139 bit of pushback 00:38:45.139 --> 00:38:45.460 about 00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:46.699 trying to describe 00:38:46.699 --> 00:38:47.139 aliens 00:38:47.139 --> 00:38:47.879 and me sitting 00:38:47.879 --> 00:38:48.539 on a toilet 00:38:48.539 --> 00:38:49.500 and brown stuff 00:38:49.500 --> 00:38:52.639 as to whether 00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:53.339 it was appropriate 00:38:53.339 --> 00:38:54.400 in a church service 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:56.900 but another way 00:38:56.900 --> 00:38:57.260 to put it 00:38:57.260 --> 00:38:57.680 is let's say 00:38:57.680 --> 00:38:58.700 after this service 00:38:58.700 --> 00:39:01.880 I'm you know 00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:02.340 some of you 00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:02.900 all left 00:39:02.900 --> 00:39:03.760 and I'm up 00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:04.519 my son's 00:39:04.519 --> 00:39:05.360 visiting you know 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:06.019 from out of town 00:39:06.019 --> 00:39:07.660 and my son Jesse 00:39:07.660 --> 00:39:08.059 and I 00:39:08.059 --> 00:39:08.619 and Tommy 00:39:08.619 --> 00:39:09.480 and Emma 00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:10.000 we're just 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:10.559 the four of us 00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:10.900 are out there 00:39:10.900 --> 00:39:11.300 chatting 00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:12.260 and all of a sudden 00:39:12.260 --> 00:39:13.480 an alien spaceship 00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:14.280 lands at the 00:39:14.280 --> 00:39:15.220 intersection of 00:39:15.220 --> 00:39:16.320 Besserer 00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:18.539 and King Edward 00:39:18.539 --> 00:39:19.920 and out comes 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:20.500 something that's 00:39:20.500 --> 00:39:21.440 obviously an alien 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:22.000 and whatever 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:22.780 sort of vaguely 00:39:22.780 --> 00:39:23.820 looks like arms 00:39:23.820 --> 00:39:25.300 it starts 00:39:25.300 --> 00:39:26.380 pointing them 00:39:26.380 --> 00:39:26.880 and starts 00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:27.639 knocking out 00:39:27.639 --> 00:39:28.200 parts of the 00:39:28.200 --> 00:39:28.679 Ottawa Little 00:39:28.679 --> 00:39:29.059 Theater 00:39:29.059 --> 00:39:29.679 and parts of 00:39:29.679 --> 00:39:30.139 the buildings 00:39:30.139 --> 00:39:30.619 around there 00:39:30.619 --> 00:39:31.000 and people 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:31.480 go running 00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:32.039 and screaming 00:39:32.039 --> 00:39:33.220 but Jesse 00:39:33.220 --> 00:39:33.639 Tommy 00:39:33.639 --> 00:39:34.059 and Emma 00:39:34.059 --> 00:39:34.579 and I 00:39:34.579 --> 00:39:35.460 not wanting 00:39:35.460 --> 00:39:36.039 to see people 00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:36.280 hurt 00:39:36.280 --> 00:39:36.700 rather than 00:39:36.700 --> 00:39:37.079 running away 00:39:37.079 --> 00:39:37.519 we run 00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:38.480 at the alien 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:40.460 tackle the alien 00:39:40.460 --> 00:39:42.320 do our Will Smith 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:43.079 from the original 00:39:43.079 --> 00:39:43.920 Independence Day 00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:44.700 and knock that 00:39:44.700 --> 00:39:45.760 alien down 00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:46.960 and hold it 00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:47.380 down 00:39:47.380 --> 00:39:49.360 and we somehow 00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:49.900 cover it 00:39:49.900 --> 00:39:50.500 so it can't 00:39:50.500 --> 00:39:50.820 fire 00:39:50.820 --> 00:39:51.720 ray gun 00:39:51.720 --> 00:39:52.180 things 00:39:52.180 --> 00:39:53.059 killing people 00:39:53.059 --> 00:39:54.500 and the police 00:39:54.500 --> 00:39:55.480 eventually come 00:39:55.480 --> 00:39:56.280 and people of course 00:39:56.280 --> 00:39:56.920 are taking things 00:39:56.920 --> 00:39:57.840 for YouTube videos 00:39:57.840 --> 00:39:58.760 which will go viral 00:39:58.760 --> 00:39:59.580 and get a couple 00:39:59.580 --> 00:40:00.460 of billion hits 00:40:00.460 --> 00:40:01.860 and all that 00:40:01.860 --> 00:40:02.880 and then eventually 00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:03.820 because it's an alien 00:40:03.820 --> 00:40:04.820 the police don't 00:40:04.820 --> 00:40:05.400 come any closer 00:40:05.400 --> 00:40:06.000 say you got to 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:06.360 cover it 00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:06.980 yeah we got to 00:40:06.980 --> 00:40:07.360 cover it 00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:08.000 eventually people 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:08.900 hazmat suits 00:40:08.900 --> 00:40:10.280 come and take 00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:11.000 the alien away 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:11.460 and put them 00:40:11.460 --> 00:40:12.160 in an enclosed 00:40:12.160 --> 00:40:12.880 thing so it 00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:13.380 can't have 00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:14.120 its terrible 00:40:14.120 --> 00:40:15.320 alien germs 00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:16.780 infect people 00:40:16.780 --> 00:40:17.780 and meanwhile 00:40:17.780 --> 00:40:18.380 they would take 00:40:18.380 --> 00:40:19.380 the four of us 00:40:19.380 --> 00:40:20.320 Jesse 00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:20.940 Emma 00:40:20.940 --> 00:40:21.420 Tommy 00:40:21.420 --> 00:40:22.079 and myself 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:22.400 off 00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:22.780 and they would 00:40:22.780 --> 00:40:23.340 also put us 00:40:23.340 --> 00:40:23.960 in isolation 00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:25.460 and here's the type 00:40:25.460 --> 00:40:25.720 of thing 00:40:25.720 --> 00:40:26.400 we have no idea 00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:26.920 what a healthy 00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:27.860 alien is like 00:40:27.860 --> 00:40:29.240 so they'd have 00:40:29.240 --> 00:40:29.900 no idea 00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:30.320 whether 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:31.380 somehow or another 00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:32.420 when Jesse 00:40:32.420 --> 00:40:33.460 punched the alien 00:40:33.460 --> 00:40:34.220 in the nose 00:40:34.220 --> 00:40:35.200 whether he in fact 00:40:35.200 --> 00:40:36.079 it wasn't a nose 00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:37.720 it was its life 00:40:37.720 --> 00:40:38.140 center 00:40:38.140 --> 00:40:38.640 and he was 00:40:38.640 --> 00:40:39.320 killing it 00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:39.920 and it's dying 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:41.000 before their eyes 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:41.619 because they have 00:40:41.619 --> 00:40:42.340 no idea 00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:43.360 how an alien 00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:44.079 is to function 00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:45.220 but they know 00:40:45.219 --> 00:40:46.379 that when I 00:40:46.379 --> 00:40:47.259 start to turn 00:40:47.259 --> 00:40:48.019 a very very 00:40:48.019 --> 00:40:49.159 bright red 00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:49.779 and part of me 00:40:49.779 --> 00:40:50.500 is turning black 00:40:50.500 --> 00:40:50.980 and part of me 00:40:50.980 --> 00:40:51.599 is turning yellow 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:52.179 and part of me 00:40:52.179 --> 00:40:52.879 is having skin 00:40:52.879 --> 00:40:53.399 peeling off 00:40:53.399 --> 00:40:53.739 they'd say 00:40:53.739 --> 00:40:54.819 that's not good 00:40:54.819 --> 00:40:57.759 George has 00:40:57.759 --> 00:40:58.480 an alien 00:40:58.480 --> 00:40:59.719 virus 00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:00.899 infection 00:41:00.899 --> 00:41:02.719 and they might 00:41:02.719 --> 00:41:03.119 not know 00:41:03.119 --> 00:41:03.739 exactly how 00:41:03.739 --> 00:41:04.519 to treat me 00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:05.959 but they know 00:41:05.959 --> 00:41:06.379 what health 00:41:06.379 --> 00:41:07.059 looks like 00:41:07.059 --> 00:41:09.319 they know 00:41:09.319 --> 00:41:09.739 what health 00:41:09.739 --> 00:41:10.399 looks like 00:41:10.399 --> 00:41:13.019 and you see 00:41:13.019 --> 00:41:13.439 that's why 00:41:13.439 --> 00:41:14.359 Genesis 1 and 2 00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:15.200 is so important 00:41:15.200 --> 00:41:17.380 and it's really 00:41:17.380 --> 00:41:18.099 really wonderful 00:41:18.099 --> 00:41:19.160 that Genesis 1 and 2 00:41:19.160 --> 00:41:19.940 go together here 00:41:19.940 --> 00:41:20.800 because you see 00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:22.039 if we only had 00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:22.940 Genesis 2 00:41:22.940 --> 00:41:24.340 if we only had 00:41:24.340 --> 00:41:25.160 Genesis 2 00:41:25.160 --> 00:41:26.599 then we would think 00:41:26.599 --> 00:41:27.380 that health 00:41:27.380 --> 00:41:28.320 means you're married 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:30.700 and if you're not 00:41:30.700 --> 00:41:30.980 married 00:41:30.980 --> 00:41:31.740 you're not healthy 00:41:31.740 --> 00:41:35.460 if you're single 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:37.559 you're second class 00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:39.940 but that's why 00:41:39.940 --> 00:41:40.940 the two stories 00:41:40.940 --> 00:41:41.960 are so important 00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:43.039 because what we see 00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:43.579 when we look at 00:41:43.579 --> 00:41:44.300 the two stories 00:41:44.300 --> 00:41:44.720 together 00:41:44.720 --> 00:41:45.560 what we see 00:41:45.560 --> 00:41:47.039 is that on one 00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:47.780 hand marriage 00:41:47.780 --> 00:41:48.420 is somehow 00:41:48.420 --> 00:41:49.160 between a man 00:41:49.160 --> 00:41:49.480 and a woman 00:41:49.480 --> 00:41:50.019 is woven 00:41:50.019 --> 00:41:50.680 into the created 00:41:50.680 --> 00:41:51.120 order 00:41:51.120 --> 00:41:52.440 but because 00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:53.480 of Genesis 1 00:41:53.480 --> 00:41:54.420 it's very clear 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:54.940 that it's not 00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:56.000 necessarily the case 00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:57.460 that a man 00:41:57.460 --> 00:41:57.920 and a woman 00:41:57.920 --> 00:41:58.880 need to be married 00:41:58.880 --> 00:41:59.640 to a member 00:41:59.640 --> 00:42:00.180 of the opposite 00:42:00.180 --> 00:42:00.700 sex 00:42:00.700 --> 00:42:01.660 to be fulfilled 00:42:01.660 --> 00:42:02.700 to have 00:42:02.700 --> 00:42:03.760 dignity 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:05.380 to have integrity 00:42:05.380 --> 00:42:06.580 and to have worth 00:42:06.579 --> 00:42:10.299 that in fact 00:42:10.299 --> 00:42:11.759 if you go back 00:42:11.759 --> 00:42:12.119 and listen 00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:12.679 last week 00:42:12.679 --> 00:42:13.119 and if you look 00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:13.960 at that first part 00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:14.599 you see that 00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:16.079 every human being 00:42:16.079 --> 00:42:16.920 by the very very 00:42:16.920 --> 00:42:17.819 nature that we bear 00:42:17.819 --> 00:42:18.619 the image of God 00:42:18.619 --> 00:42:19.679 have an inherent 00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:22.380 integrity 00:42:22.380 --> 00:42:23.400 dignity 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:24.360 value 00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:25.559 and worth 00:42:25.559 --> 00:42:26.960 that's not connected 00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:27.619 to whether or not 00:42:27.619 --> 00:42:28.179 we're married 00:42:28.179 --> 00:42:30.000 it's not connected 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:30.719 to whether or not 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:31.500 God blesses us 00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:32.159 with children 00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:38.619 it's explaining 00:42:38.619 --> 00:42:40.280 sexual desire 00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:41.719 and it's explaining 00:42:41.719 --> 00:42:43.320 the place of marriage 00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:45.480 and using 00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:46.599 sexual desire 00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:47.639 in service 00:42:47.639 --> 00:42:48.719 to the common 00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:49.440 good of humanity 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:50.099 and to the glory 00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:50.639 of God 00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:51.440 but it's definitely 00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:52.239 not saying 00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:52.760 when you look 00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:53.460 at the two stories 00:42:53.460 --> 00:42:53.880 together 00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:55.880 that unless 00:42:55.880 --> 00:42:56.639 you're married 00:42:56.639 --> 00:42:57.679 you are an 00:42:57.679 --> 00:42:58.719 incomplete person 00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:00.679 it's a very 00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:01.460 very powerful 00:43:01.460 --> 00:43:02.440 and very very wise 00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:02.940 it's why 00:43:02.940 --> 00:43:03.960 when we 00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:04.920 Christians 00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:05.900 because of 00:43:05.900 --> 00:43:06.780 cultural pressure 00:43:06.780 --> 00:43:07.579 are afraid 00:43:07.579 --> 00:43:09.039 to think through 00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:09.559 and read 00:43:09.559 --> 00:43:10.000 and meditate 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:11.079 upon Genesis 1 00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:11.519 and 2 00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:13.059 it is to our 00:43:13.059 --> 00:43:13.360 hurt 00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:13.880 and to our 00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:14.340 detriment 00:43:14.340 --> 00:43:19.679 it's 42 minutes 00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:20.519 I need to 00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:21.240 could you just 00:43:21.240 --> 00:43:22.480 put up 00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:23.300 the next 00:43:23.300 --> 00:43:24.260 point please 00:43:24.260 --> 00:43:24.740 and then 00:43:24.740 --> 00:43:26.500 try to wrap it up 00:43:26.500 --> 00:43:27.619 you know 00:43:27.619 --> 00:43:28.240 it's very very 00:43:28.240 --> 00:43:28.639 interesting 00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:29.380 where's the gospel 00:43:29.380 --> 00:43:30.059 in all of this 00:43:30.059 --> 00:43:33.119 you know 00:43:33.119 --> 00:43:34.019 because the gospel 00:43:34.019 --> 00:43:34.460 is 00:43:34.460 --> 00:43:35.059 you know 00:43:35.059 --> 00:43:35.519 it's very very 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:35.860 interesting 00:43:35.860 --> 00:43:36.980 look at the test 00:43:36.980 --> 00:43:37.259 again 00:43:37.259 --> 00:43:37.880 therefore man 00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:38.219 shall leave 00:43:38.219 --> 00:43:38.659 his father 00:43:38.659 --> 00:43:39.139 and his mother 00:43:39.139 --> 00:43:39.719 and hold fast 00:43:39.719 --> 00:43:40.159 to his wife 00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:40.519 and they shall 00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:41.420 become one flesh 00:43:41.420 --> 00:43:42.500 in some way 00:43:42.500 --> 00:43:43.320 this relationship 00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:44.440 of leaving 00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:45.779 of holding fast 00:43:45.779 --> 00:43:46.880 of being one flesh 00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:47.579 in some ways 00:43:47.579 --> 00:43:48.119 it's going to end up 00:43:48.119 --> 00:43:48.900 becoming a picture 00:43:48.900 --> 00:43:49.799 of all of God's 00:43:49.799 --> 00:43:50.340 covenants 00:43:50.340 --> 00:43:51.159 with his people 00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:51.960 that are going to 00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:52.360 happen 00:43:52.360 --> 00:43:54.420 after the fall 00:43:54.420 --> 00:43:55.820 I mean even now 00:43:55.820 --> 00:43:56.559 it describes 00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:57.239 not obviously 00:43:57.239 --> 00:43:58.299 in the exact same way 00:43:58.300 --> 00:43:59.500 because God the Father 00:43:59.500 --> 00:44:00.240 the Son and the Holy Spirit 00:44:00.240 --> 00:44:01.240 don't have to leave each other 00:44:01.240 --> 00:44:02.360 but it pictures 00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:03.340 we'll see it next week 00:44:03.340 --> 00:44:05.019 of this connection 00:44:05.019 --> 00:44:06.300 and this oneness 00:44:06.300 --> 00:44:07.440 between human beings 00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:09.120 and God 00:44:09.120 --> 00:44:10.380 and then after the fall 00:44:10.380 --> 00:44:11.320 when we can no longer 00:44:11.320 --> 00:44:12.539 be naked and unashamed 00:44:12.539 --> 00:44:15.300 and all of the different ways 00:44:15.300 --> 00:44:16.740 the covenant 00:44:16.740 --> 00:44:17.620 that God makes 00:44:17.620 --> 00:44:18.300 with Seth 00:44:18.300 --> 00:44:18.900 the covenant 00:44:18.900 --> 00:44:19.280 that God 00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:19.600 you know 00:44:19.600 --> 00:44:20.740 with Adam and Eve 00:44:20.740 --> 00:44:21.260 in terms of how 00:44:21.260 --> 00:44:21.900 he's going to redeem 00:44:21.900 --> 00:44:23.200 the covenant 00:44:23.200 --> 00:44:23.800 with Noah 00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:24.480 the covenant 00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:25.200 with Abraham 00:44:25.200 --> 00:44:25.940 the covenant 00:44:25.940 --> 00:44:26.980 with Moses 00:44:26.980 --> 00:44:27.539 the covenant 00:44:27.539 --> 00:44:28.099 with David 00:44:28.099 --> 00:44:29.000 and most importantly 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:29.679 the new covenant 00:44:29.679 --> 00:44:30.340 with Jesus 00:44:30.340 --> 00:44:33.380 there's all this aspect 00:44:33.380 --> 00:44:34.900 of this holding fast 00:44:34.900 --> 00:44:35.500 or covenant 00:44:35.500 --> 00:44:37.059 and this desire 00:44:37.059 --> 00:44:38.079 to somehow be one 00:44:38.079 --> 00:44:39.240 but it's most completely 00:44:39.240 --> 00:44:40.420 and perfectly fulfilled 00:44:40.420 --> 00:44:41.579 in the person of Jesus 00:44:41.579 --> 00:44:43.340 who on the same night 00:44:43.340 --> 00:44:44.260 that he was betrayed 00:44:44.260 --> 00:44:46.059 took a cup 00:44:46.059 --> 00:44:49.179 and after he had taken a cup 00:44:49.179 --> 00:44:50.820 he took the bread 00:44:50.820 --> 00:44:52.280 and he described 00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:53.920 how that what he was inaugurating 00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:54.840 was a new covenant 00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:59.820 and the disciples 00:44:59.820 --> 00:45:01.019 were going to be filled 00:45:01.019 --> 00:45:02.480 with all sorts of confusion 00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:04.340 because of Jesus' capture 00:45:04.340 --> 00:45:05.200 his betrayal 00:45:05.200 --> 00:45:06.600 his horrific death 00:45:06.600 --> 00:45:07.940 their complete 00:45:07.940 --> 00:45:08.640 and utter refusal 00:45:08.640 --> 00:45:09.240 to believe 00:45:09.240 --> 00:45:10.019 that he would rise 00:45:10.019 --> 00:45:10.760 from the dead 00:45:10.760 --> 00:45:11.600 all of that 00:45:11.600 --> 00:45:12.000 they're going to be 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:12.760 completely and utterly 00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:13.800 puzzled by it 00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:14.220 they're going to be 00:45:14.220 --> 00:45:14.880 heartbroken 00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:16.059 they're going to be destroyed 00:45:16.059 --> 00:45:17.220 and then Jesus 00:45:17.220 --> 00:45:18.180 is vindicated 00:45:18.180 --> 00:45:18.980 in his resurrection 00:45:18.980 --> 00:45:20.140 what is it that Jesus said 00:45:20.140 --> 00:45:20.680 he doesn't leave 00:45:20.680 --> 00:45:21.519 his father and mother 00:45:21.519 --> 00:45:26.500 but he leaves heaven 00:45:26.500 --> 00:45:28.079 he leaves God the Father 00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:29.360 and God the Holy Spirit 00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:33.119 and he leaves to seek 00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:37.280 and just as in Ephesians 00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:38.139 it's going to talk about 00:45:38.139 --> 00:45:39.280 how the man's love 00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:39.980 for his wife 00:45:39.980 --> 00:45:40.500 is to be 00:45:40.500 --> 00:45:41.579 as if he is willing 00:45:41.579 --> 00:45:42.480 to die for her 00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:43.860 we see that 00:45:43.860 --> 00:45:44.579 because Jesus 00:45:44.579 --> 00:45:45.860 not only leaves 00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:48.559 but he holds fast to us 00:45:48.559 --> 00:45:50.099 in such a way 00:45:50.099 --> 00:45:50.900 that when he dies 00:45:50.900 --> 00:45:51.900 upon the cross 00:45:51.900 --> 00:45:53.559 it's my sin 00:45:53.559 --> 00:45:55.059 that he's holding fast 00:45:55.059 --> 00:45:58.019 and he's not only 00:45:58.019 --> 00:45:59.559 holding fast my sin 00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:00.480 so that he dies 00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:01.819 for my sin 00:46:01.819 --> 00:46:03.019 he's holding fast 00:46:03.019 --> 00:46:04.159 so that his perfect 00:46:04.159 --> 00:46:05.480 obedience to the Father 00:46:05.480 --> 00:46:07.699 is being held against me 00:46:07.699 --> 00:46:09.799 and the result 00:46:09.799 --> 00:46:10.519 of his death 00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:11.400 upon the cross 00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:12.299 when we receive it 00:46:12.299 --> 00:46:13.019 by faith 00:46:13.019 --> 00:46:14.119 is that 00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:14.819 not that we are 00:46:14.819 --> 00:46:15.960 one flesh with God 00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:16.639 but that we are 00:46:16.639 --> 00:46:17.699 at one with God 00:46:17.699 --> 00:46:20.779 from heaven 00:46:20.779 --> 00:46:21.899 he came to sought her 00:46:21.899 --> 00:46:23.019 to be his holy bride 00:46:23.019 --> 00:46:24.619 with his own blood 00:46:24.619 --> 00:46:25.719 he bought her 00:46:25.719 --> 00:46:30.079 and so we see 00:46:30.079 --> 00:46:30.779 that Jesus 00:46:30.779 --> 00:46:32.759 to restore us 00:46:32.759 --> 00:46:33.539 he 00:46:33.539 --> 00:46:34.099 could you put up 00:46:34.099 --> 00:46:34.799 the final point 00:46:34.799 --> 00:46:35.480 Andrew please 00:46:35.480 --> 00:46:38.399 that he seeks us 00:46:38.399 --> 00:46:39.439 we didn't seek him 00:46:39.439 --> 00:46:40.480 he seeks us 00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:42.719 that he redeems us 00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:44.159 and that once he 00:46:44.159 --> 00:46:45.139 comes in 00:46:45.139 --> 00:46:46.079 and takes us 00:46:46.079 --> 00:46:47.719 he's going to restore us 00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:48.659 that are lost 00:46:48.659 --> 00:46:49.819 and ruined masterpieces 00:46:49.819 --> 00:46:51.099 and I don't know 00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:51.719 if that means 00:46:51.719 --> 00:46:53.039 that I'm going to be married 00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:53.880 or not married 00:46:53.880 --> 00:46:55.019 I don't know if that 00:46:55.019 --> 00:46:55.679 I don't know what 00:46:55.679 --> 00:46:56.480 that's going to mean 00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:56.980 I mean I know 00:46:56.980 --> 00:46:57.659 what it is for me 00:46:57.659 --> 00:46:58.259 because I'm married 00:46:58.259 --> 00:46:59.739 but I mean for us 00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:00.279 listening to this 00:47:00.279 --> 00:47:01.279 we don't know what it means 00:47:01.279 --> 00:47:02.139 but we know that as 00:47:02.139 --> 00:47:04.299 as we cleave to Jesus 00:47:04.299 --> 00:47:05.699 and as he begins 00:47:05.699 --> 00:47:06.860 to work in our lives 00:47:06.860 --> 00:47:07.819 I mean for those of us 00:47:07.819 --> 00:47:08.860 who are same-sex attracted 00:47:08.860 --> 00:47:09.900 maybe there'll be a change 00:47:09.900 --> 00:47:10.420 in our desire 00:47:10.420 --> 00:47:11.259 maybe there won't be 00:47:11.259 --> 00:47:12.599 but the Bible's teaching 00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:13.340 is not saying 00:47:13.340 --> 00:47:14.000 that if you're not 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:15.380 in a marriage relationship 00:47:15.380 --> 00:47:16.440 you're second class 00:47:16.440 --> 00:47:16.960 it's not saying 00:47:16.960 --> 00:47:17.539 that at all 00:47:17.539 --> 00:47:21.039 but that every person 00:47:21.039 --> 00:47:22.579 is a masterpiece 00:47:22.579 --> 00:47:23.599 lost and ruined 00:47:23.599 --> 00:47:24.740 and Jesus comes 00:47:24.740 --> 00:47:25.260 and seeks 00:47:25.260 --> 00:47:26.019 and finds you 00:47:26.019 --> 00:47:26.860 and redeems you 00:47:26.860 --> 00:47:29.240 and as you cleave 00:47:29.240 --> 00:47:29.700 to him 00:47:29.700 --> 00:47:30.619 and come to him 00:47:30.619 --> 00:47:31.440 and submit to him 00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:32.500 and listen to his word 00:47:32.500 --> 00:47:34.180 he restores you 00:47:34.180 --> 00:47:35.000 in the direction 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:35.820 of Genesis 2 00:47:35.820 --> 00:47:36.920 and Genesis 1 00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:40.059 he will restore you 00:47:40.059 --> 00:47:42.079 so that the masterpiece 00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:43.119 becomes more 00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:43.599 and more 00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:44.059 and more 00:47:44.059 --> 00:47:44.579 clear 00:47:44.579 --> 00:47:46.259 as we trust 00:47:46.259 --> 00:47:46.559 him 00:47:46.559 --> 00:47:48.480 to restore us 00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:52.980 please stand 00:47:52.980 --> 00:48:02.559 just bow our heads 00:48:02.559 --> 00:48:02.960 in prayer 00:48:02.960 --> 00:48:03.440 Father 00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:06.980 you know the different ways 00:48:06.980 --> 00:48:08.539 that we violate 00:48:08.539 --> 00:48:10.579 your creational intent 00:48:10.579 --> 00:48:11.739 in Genesis 1 and 2 00:48:11.739 --> 00:48:13.359 Father you know the men 00:48:13.359 --> 00:48:14.000 amongst us 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:14.939 or the women as well 00:48:14.939 --> 00:48:16.359 who struggle with pornography 00:48:16.359 --> 00:48:17.659 Father you know 00:48:17.659 --> 00:48:19.000 those of us 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:20.059 who struggle 00:48:20.059 --> 00:48:22.379 with different types 00:48:22.379 --> 00:48:24.119 of same sex desire 00:48:24.119 --> 00:48:25.119 and acting out on it 00:48:25.119 --> 00:48:25.719 you know Father 00:48:25.719 --> 00:48:26.439 those of us 00:48:26.439 --> 00:48:26.699 who 00:48:26.699 --> 00:48:29.239 we're not sure 00:48:29.239 --> 00:48:30.379 what our gender is 00:48:30.379 --> 00:48:32.219 and who we're attracted to 00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:33.059 you know those of us 00:48:33.059 --> 00:48:33.359 Father 00:48:33.359 --> 00:48:34.119 who are just struggling 00:48:34.119 --> 00:48:35.259 with any type of attraction 00:48:35.259 --> 00:48:35.879 Father you know 00:48:35.879 --> 00:48:36.919 there are so many 00:48:36.919 --> 00:48:37.679 different ways 00:48:37.679 --> 00:48:39.000 that we are sexually broken 00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:41.760 and we come before you 00:48:41.760 --> 00:48:42.039 Father 00:48:42.039 --> 00:48:42.900 not as the pure 00:48:42.900 --> 00:48:43.599 and as the holy 00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:44.559 but acknowledging 00:48:44.559 --> 00:48:45.260 before you 00:48:45.260 --> 00:48:45.679 that 00:48:45.679 --> 00:48:48.500 every single one of us 00:48:48.500 --> 00:48:49.579 was 00:48:49.579 --> 00:48:50.559 or is 00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:51.400 a lost and ruined 00:48:51.400 --> 00:48:52.159 masterpiece 00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:53.039 a masterpiece 00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:54.000 because we are made 00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:54.539 in your image 00:48:54.539 --> 00:48:55.780 and we thank 00:48:55.780 --> 00:48:56.739 and praise you Jesus 00:48:56.739 --> 00:48:57.900 that you sought us 00:48:57.900 --> 00:48:58.960 that you redeem us 00:48:58.960 --> 00:49:00.380 that as 00:49:00.380 --> 00:49:01.780 you hold fast 00:49:01.780 --> 00:49:02.219 to us 00:49:02.219 --> 00:49:03.280 and we submit to you 00:49:03.280 --> 00:49:04.820 and walk with the Holy Spirit 00:49:04.820 --> 00:49:05.679 that you will work 00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:06.519 to restore 00:49:06.519 --> 00:49:07.739 the masterpiece 00:49:07.739 --> 00:49:08.539 that is us 00:49:08.539 --> 00:49:10.539 we ask Father 00:49:10.539 --> 00:49:11.360 that you help us 00:49:11.360 --> 00:49:11.920 to be willing 00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:12.719 to repent 00:49:12.719 --> 00:49:15.679 that you would help us 00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:16.039 Father 00:49:16.039 --> 00:49:16.739 to be willing 00:49:16.739 --> 00:49:17.800 to submit to you 00:49:17.800 --> 00:49:18.460 and to learn 00:49:18.460 --> 00:49:19.420 to walk with you 00:49:19.420 --> 00:49:20.119 so that you will 00:49:20.119 --> 00:49:21.019 work your work 00:49:21.019 --> 00:49:21.579 of restoration 00:49:21.579 --> 00:49:22.300 and healing 00:49:22.300 --> 00:49:23.119 in our lives 00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:25.940 Father bless those 00:49:25.940 --> 00:49:26.699 who are married 00:49:26.699 --> 00:49:28.059 here 00:49:28.059 --> 00:49:28.639 bless them 00:49:28.639 --> 00:49:29.320 in their marriage 00:49:29.320 --> 00:49:30.739 and for those of us 00:49:30.739 --> 00:49:31.320 who are single 00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:32.199 Father bless us 00:49:32.199 --> 00:49:32.940 in our singleness 00:49:32.940 --> 00:49:37.420 that in whatever state 00:49:37.420 --> 00:49:38.320 you have called us 00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:38.920 that we will live 00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:39.720 to bring you glory 00:49:39.720 --> 00:49:41.160 and all this we ask 00:49:41.160 --> 00:49:41.960 in the name of Jesus 00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:42.640 your Son 00:49:42.640 --> 00:49:43.840 and our Savior 00:49:43.840 --> 00:49:44.820 Amen