1143. Core Essential Truths of Divine Design

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series entitled Divine Design, which is a study of biblical manhood and biblical womanhood.

Today's message will be preached by BGU President Steve Pettit. I'd like to ask you to take your Bibles this morning and turn with me please to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 19. We are continuing our series on Divine Design, Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Most of you are familiar, at least to some degree, with the well-known story Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The story towards the end of it contains an interchange between two of the primary characters, the White Rabbit and the King of Hearts. The conversation is over a letter and what is stated is worth our attention. For the White Rabbit puts on his spectacles and asks the King, where shall I begin please your majesty?

And it's reading through this letter. And the King gravely said, begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end and then stop. I think that is good advice for us this morning as we're working our way through this study of biblical manhood and womanhood divine design and that is we go back to the beginning. Last week we saw this is what Jesus did. When Jesus was faced with a complex and difficult question of divorce, what did he do? He set for us a pattern.

And the first thing he established was the authority of scripture. That's the issue. Have you not read? And I'd like to say to all of us as we go along this semester, the issue is going to come back over and over and over and that is has God spoken and do we believe it? You are going to face in the world a pressure to conformity. It's either the world or the word and that's the issue.

Have you not read? And then once Jesus established the authority of the Bible, he framed his answers from the divine design that is revealed in the beginning back in the book of Genesis. And so as we face questions that will confront us about human identity, human sexuality and human relationships, we must do what Jesus did and begin at the beginning. And so this morning I'd like to take the foundational idea of Christ and show you three core essential truths to divine design. And we find them here in Matthew chapter 19 beginning in verse three.

Let me read it to you this morning. The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? So that's the issue about divorce. And he answered and said unto them, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this call shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Jesus spoke from Genesis on God's design and intention for marriage.

And it is here this morning that we see three core essentials, foundational truths, the things that we build on of divine design. Here's the first core essential and it is this, that sexual distinctions are divinely designed. Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? Very early on in life, we know this, that we all start recognizing sexual distinctions. We see it in our families. We have a mom and a dad. We have brothers and sisters.

Boys and girls have different names like Jessica and James, Megan and Michael. We learn this distinction exists in society around us. For example, we go into a public building and there we have to go to the bathroom and we discover there's separate bathrooms. There's men and women and we quickly come to realize the difference matters which one you go in or at least it should matter.

We are asked questions on a public record or official documents. We're asked, are you male or are you female? So very early in life, we recognize there are clearly sexual distinctions just like Jesus said, he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. This distinction in sexuality is heightened through the birth of children. When you're young, you see your own mother or you see another lady in the church and she's expecting a baby. We realize only mommies have babies and we wonder how does this all happen?

How do children come into the world? Perhaps you asked your parents one day that question and your parents looked at you and said, we'll tell you when you get older or maybe they had the talk and you sat there and when they explained it to you and how it all happens, you were dumbfounded. Maybe you were grossed out and you suddenly realize that this is what's going on. These distinctions are more pronounced when we go through puberty and we become sexually mature or capable of reproduction. At this time, our desires increase sexually. We are attracted to the opposite sex. The girls who in elementary school had the cooties, now in high school have the cooties. The reality of sexual distinction is heightened in our upper teen years. They start talking about it. Parental expectations of what kind of relationship you can have with the opposite sex.

When does dating begin or courtship or date ship or whatever you call it? We become aware as we get older of popular songs written about love. We recognize TV shows and movies are rated based on sexual content and we become very aware of the reality of what Jesus said. He which made them from the beginning made them male and female. So what are we to make of these distinctions? And the scripture Jesus quoted teaches us three important conclusions about sexual distinctions in God's design. Number one, sexual distinctions are good. He made them male and female. Sexual identity was a part of God's original creation before they fall and these distinctions are designed or declared to be good.

In fact, God said they were very good and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good. Since sexual distinctions are confirmed by God to be a blessing and a benefit, by the way, that's what good means. Then we should seek to be everything God made us to be within the framework of our own sexual identity. And so whatever it means to be a man from God's perspective, then I should want to be God's man. Whatever it means to be a woman from God's perspective, I want to be God's woman. Next week I'm going to speak on be a man. What is masculinity?

The following week I'm going to speak on femininity. What does it mean to be God's woman? We should all strive to live within our divinely designed framework of our sexuality and if there are limitations and restrictions, then we accept them as good because God made that. Then secondly, sexual distinctions reflect both equality and plurality. Distinctions between males and females are never to be understood as one sex being qualitatively better than the other. There is no superiority or inferiority in either male or female. Men and women are both equal as divine image bearers through creation and we are equal as justified sons and daughters of God through salvation. But not only is there equality, but there's actually plurality.

Think about it this way. God said in Genesis 1, let us make man in our image. Immediately the text reveals that there is a plurality in the Godhead and as we study the Bible, what do we discover?

There's one God in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit. The plurality we see in the Godhead is also reflected in the design of humanity. When he said let us make man in our image and man being made in God's image is both male and female. So just as there is an equality in the Godhead and a plurality, it is also true that in humanity there is an equality and a plurality.

Two distinct but equal kinds of people that make up mankind created in God's image. And then there's a third truth and that is sexual distinctions reflect differences in roles. While men and women are equal in value in the sight of God, they also have unique roles in scripture applied in three important ways. Number one, we are different in our roles in procreation. Primarily our physical bodies are created, men and women, separately for the ability to procreate, to have children.

And God has created us distinctly different. Secondly, there are definitely differences in the roles of the family as God created it. God assigned roles to his image bearers and specifically the husband is to serve as the leader and the woman was created to come alongside to be his partner. The husband is designated to be the head and the wife, the helper in marriage.

The difference reflects a complementary role, not a lower status. For example, for the woman, the word for helper that it says in the book of Genesis chapter two that she was created to be his suitable helper is the same word that is used to speak of the characteristics of the father. God is our helper of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who has come to help us. The first woman Eve was created from man and for man. She was taken from his side and was made to complete the incomplete aspects of his life where the two would become one. Paul speaks of complementary roles in marriage and one of the most beautiful metaphors in the Bible when he says the husband is to be like Christ who is the head of the body. And he is to love his wife sacrificially and the wife is to be like the church and she is to be in submission to her husband like the church is to Christ. And so the pattern in scripture is clear that we are equal in value, different in role, complementing one another in design. And then number three, there's a difference in their roles in the church just as different roles among the members of the Trinity. So you have the father, son and spirit.

They are all equal. They're all God. But when we look at the plan of salvation, they had different roles in that, in that plan. So it is also true in the leadership of the local church where it is very clear in scripture that leadership roles, and when I speak of leadership, I'm primarily speaking of the pastor, the elder and the bishop.

There are three words reflecting the same person. I'm not speaking about anything else other than the spiritual leadership of the church. And it is a sign, this role is a sign to men that meet the specific spiritual qualifications that are spelled out in the Bible. For example, the pastor is to be the husband of one wife. Now we could do a whole message on the roles of women within the church.

That's not what we're going to do today. And there are many roles, but clearly there are distinctions. So we have divinely designed distinctions, but today we live in a fallen world, a sinful world.

There are constant pressures within secular society actually against God's design. This is seen in the way that men and women are different, that those differences create the tensions. For example, one of the most obvious tensions today regarding our sexual identity as being good is transgenderism. What does transgender actually mean? I'd like to read to you just what I cut and pasted right off the internet from WebMD as they themselves were explaining what it means to be a transgender.

Let me read it. It says, and I quote, when a child is born, a doctor says, it's a boy, it's a girl. Assigning someone's sex is based on biology, chromosomes, anatomy, and hormones. But a person's gender identity, the inner sense of being male, female, or both doesn't always match their biology. Transgender people say they were assigned to sex that isn't true to who they are. Many people have assumptions about what it means to be transgender, but it isn't about surgery or sexual orientation or even how someone dresses, it's how they feel inside. The Williams Institute says there are nearly 700,000 people living publicly as transgender in the US.

Each one is unique and their journeys are personal. Some say they are the opposite sex of what they were assigned at birth. Some say they are both male and female, still others don't identify as either gender. It takes a lot of courage to buck the culture's norm that gender is binary, says Helen R. Friedman, PhD, a clinical psychologist in St. Louis, who specializes in gender identity and transgender issues.

Listen carefully what she says. The truth is, gender does exist on a continuum, meaning there's lot of in between. What it means is that there's always a changing process going on. But when you and I go back to the beginning and we look for answers, what do we discover? That sexual distinctions are assigned by God just as Jesus reminded his hearers. He which made them at the beginning made them male and female. Then there's a second core essential we see here of divine design found in the words of Christ and that is this, that sexual relationships are divinely designed. Notice what the text says in Matthew when Jesus said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and the twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. Now this text that we just read reveals a very important foundational truth that sexual relationships are divinely designed. God's word gives us the basis, defines the meaning, and sets the boundary for all human sexual experiences.

So what are those? Number one, sexual relationships are based on God's image. They are based on the image of God. You see, we are created in God's image. So what does that mean? Well basically there are two ideas about being created in God's image.

The first one is called the substantive view. That simply means that humans are like God in that we share the same aspects of God's nature like mind and will and emotions. So we are made in the image of God, we can think, we can feel, we can make choices. When we talk about our inner man or our soul, we are talking about that which reflects the image of God. And then we know when Adam was created, he was created originally righteous so that he had the same qualities of God like kindness and mercy and grace and righteousness and patience and faithfulness. So when we talk about the substantive view, it stresses the idea that substantively we are like God in that way. So we're all his image bearers.

But then there's a second view and that's called the functional view. And in this view, humans are made in the image of God because we act like God and our divinely given role to rule the earth. We see this in God's mandate to Adam and Eve.

What did he say? He says you're to exercise dominion over the earth. And specifically, listen to what it says, and God bless them, male and female, and God sent to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion.

Five commands in this text. And because humanity was created as a plurality, their ruling the earth was a joint function. You can almost say in a very real sense, this is a royal edict that establishes the first royal couple, King Adam and Queen Eve. They are rulers over God's creation under God's authority. And one of the essential elements to Adam and Eve's ruling over the earth was through procreation. Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. This is an important way in which we rule over creation. Let me put it in simple terms.

Get married, have children, start families. That is a part of the image of God. Now think about the immense implications of this statement.

That we can functionally do what God does in the sense that we can actually create life. I mean, if your mom and dad didn't have a relationship, you wouldn't be sitting here. Thanks mom.

Thanks dad. We can't fulfill this command individually. It takes a man and a woman to procreate. Humanity came into existence as a plurality and it will only survive and thrive through a plurality. Men and men can't make babies.

Women and women cannot create children. God's plan is men and women. So sexual relationships are defined by the image of God. Secondly, sexual relationships are defined by God's word.

Notice what the Bible says. For this call shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no more two but one flesh. So three things very clear from these verses. Number one, it is clear that one flesh here is referring to sexual union. It's talking about sexual intercourse.

That's what it means. Number two, it is clear that Jesus is referring to the sexual union between a man and a woman only. I mean, that's clear. Number three, it is clear that sexual union is reserved for marriage alone. God created the sexual relationship for pleasure, for procreation, and for partnership. God intends for married couples to have a healthy and a happy sexual relationship. But God has also set the boundaries for human sexual relationships.

And that's the third thing I want to say. And that is sexual relationships are prescribed by the laws of God. God is very clear in his word concerning with whom we can have a sexual relationship. He's very clear. In Hebrews 13 verse four, it says marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers shall be judged. It's very clear.

One man, one woman in marriage. But God is also very clear about who we must not have sexual relationships with. I mean, God is very specific. We are prohibited from sexual relationships of any kind with any person in any context outside of marriage. And perhaps there's no other place in all the Bible where it is so clearly expressed than in Leviticus chapter 18.

If you never read it, you ought to read it. Because God clearly expressed and states his people should not have sexual relationships with blood relatives, father, mother, stepmother, sister, half-sister, granddaughter, step-sister, aunt, uncle, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, mother and her daughter, grandchildren, wife and her sister, neighbor's wife, a male with a male, a woman with a woman or an animal. That's all in Leviticus 18. Many of these things are incestuous relationships or abusive relationships, but they're all condemned by God.

Now, an important question that we have to ask. And that is this, is there a place where couples are permitted to have sex before marriage? What does the Bible say? And I'd like to read to you 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 1 and 2 because it's very clear.

And I'm going to read it from the ESV because I think it's clearer. Now concerning the matters about which you wrote, Paul was writing to the Corinthian church, it is good for a man not to have sexual relationships with a woman. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

He was writing to people that were going to live single. Actually 1 Corinthians 7 is written for singles in the church. But what he is saying this, that sexual relationships are designed for marriage. There's no place in the scripture that even hints at the idea that couples are permitted to have sex before marriage. So we see clearly sexual relationships are designed by God. And then finally, the last thing I'd like to say this morning, and really very quickly, and that is this, that the permanence of marriage is divinely commanded. When Jesus laid the foundation, he intended for marriage to be permanent. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. When Christ came, he came to restore his people back to a pre-fall condition. That restoration will not be fully realized until the full redemption of our body. However, Christ has renewed the image of God within every believer, and we should strive to live in that likeness. Therefore for the believer, in marriage, permanence is the only ideal. This is exactly what Jesus said. What therefore God hath joined together, don't mess it up.

That's what he's saying. Now let me just say this in conclusion about marriage, because everybody in this room is thinking about getting married before you die, most of you. Marriage should be approached from the perspective of the will of God, what God hath joined together. You need to look at marriage as God and his will, his purpose, his plan.

Therefore we should be very careful, careful, and submissive. God, I want to marry in your purpose and plan. Secondly, couples must build on the divine design for a strong foundation in marriage.

It was my privilege for almost 20 years to carry 57 different young people that traveled with us on our team when I was an evangelist. Out of that 57, out of that group, came 11 marriages. That means over a third of the group married each other. All of those marriages today are strong, healthy, vibrant marriages. Do you know why? Because they built their marriage on the principles that we're giving to you on divine design. You know why this is such an important study? Because my hope is that out of this group will come very strong, healthy, vibrant Christian marriages.

I mean, that's what you want, don't you? But if you want to have a strong marriage, you've got to build on a strong foundation, a commitment to God's word, a growing relationship with God, an acceptance of your role in marriage, a commitment to moral purity, a commitment to God's mission for your marriage, a belief in the family and building strong families. God's plan works and God's plan is permanence in his family and his marriage. So next week we're going to talk about what it means to be a man. And the next week we're going to talk about what it means to be a woman. Somebody asked me, are you going to preach on it? I said, well, what other woman is going to preach on it? I mean, I mean, somebody's got to preach on it.

I have a wife and two daughters, so I do know a little bit about it. So, but we're going to go back to the Bible. What does the Bible say? And that's where he's staying. And all God's people said, amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Bob Jones University President, Steve Pettit. This sermon was part of the study series about biblical manhood and biblical womanhood entitled Divine Design. Join us again tomorrow as we continue this series here on The Daily Platform.