For My Transgender Friend #2

Your sin against God is more than being transgender, although it does include that. You see, it's a bigger problem. You see, your sin is the fact that you've lived for self, not for Christ.

Your sin is that you have not loved Christ or known Him. I was once lost also, so I speak to you as one who's been there. The term identity has undergone a cultural spin within the transgender worldview. People now claim they identify as a different gender other than their biological one. Hello, I'm Bill Wright, and today on The Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green continues a series titled The Bible and Transgenderism as he continues teaching God's people God's Word. Don, can we really help people who are living as transgender find their true identity in Christ?

Well, Bill, I guess I would answer the question this way, is that a committed transgender person does not have an identity in Christ because they are not a Christian. But what we can do is point them to Christ and show them that there is a new identity available to them that Christ offers to them and Christ even commands them to come to as he calls them and says, Come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And so we are calling people out of a transgender world, believing in the power of the gospel, the power of Christ to transform the darkest of lives and to realize that Christ is able to make someone a new creation. That's the blessed hope that we proclaim. It's what we're going to share today on The Truth Pulpit.

Thanks for that encouragement, Don. And friend, there's much more to learn about what we should say to those with a transgender world view. So let's join our teacher now on The Truth Pulpit. Well, I have spent several weeks in the past couple of months teaching a series titled The Bible and Transgenderism, and I have spoken that series based on the text of Scripture and from some very important presuppositions.

You see, I am a Christian pastor, and I am committed to the truth claims of the Bible and the truth claims of Jesus Christ. And I'm speaking this message today, this particular message today, in an effort to speak to those who might identify with the transgender community in one way or another. You see, the Christian truth claims are mutually exclusive from the world view of transgenderism. The two cannot be reconciled. They are in direct opposition to one another, and I've explained all of that in prior messages.

But I didn't want to leave it there knowing that some of you might hear those messages. I wanted to go a step further and to reach to you and to speak to you and to offer to you in a transgender world and a transgender world view what Scripture would say to you by way of clarity and hope for the future of your life and indeed the future of your eternity. And we'll start here with the first point that I would make to you, that I would share with you here this morning. It's that God is holy. God is holy. You, my transgender friend, will one day stand before a holy God, and He will require an account from you for the way that you've lived your life. Our second point here this morning is that you are sinful. You are sinful, and that's a problem.

You see, the Bible says that your very nature, the very person that you are at the very core of who you are, is depraved, is hostile to God, is dead in trespasses and sin, and that there is not a spark of righteousness in you just like there was not one in me in a prior time in my life. The good news in the third matter that I would share with you this morning is this, is that Jesus Christ is the Savior. And Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 8, He said, I always do the things that are pleasing to my Father. You know what?

It's interesting. When you read the Gospel accounts, God the Father said that in return to Christ as well. On different occasions, He looked down from heaven, and He declared in a way that many people heard at the time, He said, This is My beloved Son.

In Him I am well pleased. And so God, while He does not find anything pleasing about us, about you and me and our sinful condition, God is pleased with His Son, Jesus Christ. He is pleased with who Jesus is and who Jesus was during His time on earth. And so somehow in Christ, we find that which pleases the God who is the judge, that God accepts in a way that He doesn't accept any one of us. And what did Christ do with that perfect life, and why did He come down to heaven to live out a life like that?

What possible sense does that make? If you're God in heaven, why would you come down and live here among people like us? Well, Christ came on a mission of mercy. The Bible says that it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost, the Apostle Paul said. If He came to save the chief of sinners, He'd probably save you too.

And He's willing to save you too. And what did He do with that perfect life? Well, He gave it up. He gave it as a sacrifice.

He gave it as a sacrifice. You see, God requires perfect righteousness from anyone who would be in His presence, and He requires that there would be an eternal punishment upon anyone that violates His law, like all of us have done. And so we've got a double problem here. We've got a double problem in that we deserve judgment and we lack the righteousness that God requires.

How are we ever going to get out of that dilemma? Well, the Bible says that Christ is the answer to that dilemma. At the end of His earthly life, He went to a cross, a Roman cross. He gave Himself over to be crucified by wicked men. And what Scripture tells us is that God orchestrated that so that that death of Christ could be a sacrifice on behalf of everyone who would ever believe in Him. That He would pay in His own person the penalty that your sins required, that my sins required. And He shed His blood and offered that life up as a sacrifice to a holy God, to satisfy, to quench, to turn away the wrath of God from sinners like you and me.

It's amazing. He didn't stay dead. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3 that Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust so that He might bring us to God. Christ died in place of a people. Instead of a mass of people, Christ died on their behalf, in their stead, on their behalf. You see, our problem, when I say our, mankind's problem with sin has been addressed by Jesus Christ at the cross. God has provided salvation for those who believe in His Son.

And here's what this means for you, my transgender friend, for you friends listening in the audience here. It means that Jesus Christ has the ability to deliver you from the judgment that your sins deserve. He can give you new life. He can reconcile you to God. He can bridge that infinite gap between you as a sinner and God as holy. Christ is able to bridge that gap because He is both God and man, and He has lived the perfect, righteous life that God requires. Jesus said in words that are more true than anything that your feelings could ever tell you, words that are more true than any human could ever say, because Christ cannot lie.

We know that what I'm about to say is true. To be accepted fully and unconditionally, Jesus said this about Himself. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. There is reconciliation to God that is available in Christ.

Well, if you're like me, I want to know how to get that. If I am a guilty, judged sinner facing eternal judgment from the hands of a holy God, I want to know how to get out from that position of condemnation. And I would have you know that reality as well, my transgender friend. It brings us to our fourth point this morning. We've said three things so far. God is holy. You are a sinner. Jesus Christ is the Savior.

Now that Christ has died and rose again and ascended back into heaven, God doesn't just automatically forgive everybody. There must be a response to His Son. And this is the critical bridge.

This is the fork in the road. This is the pivot point of life for everyone who would hear this message is that now there is a response that is required to Christ. And our fourth point that we would share with you is this, is that you must repent and believe in Christ. You must repent and believe in Christ. That is the call of God on you. That is the call of Christ on everyone that would hear.

Jesus Himself said this. He said the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Mark chapter 1 verse 15.

The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. What does that mean? If this is what Christ commands, what does it mean?

That's kind of important. Well, it means that you must admit before God that you're a guilty sinner. You must flee to Christ. You must abandon yourself. You must leave yourself behind and go to Christ and ask Him in humble dependence, claiming no righteousness of your own.

Go to Christ and say, I leave my life behind. Save me. I come to you for the salvation of which I have heard, the salvation of which you have spoken in your word. Oh, Lord Christ, save me too. You see, Jesus said in Mark chapter 8, He said, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it. My friend, we're talking about something that is far bigger, far transcendent, far more important than simply turning away from a transgender lifestyle. Or whatever the sinful lifestyle is that those of you in the room are pursuing.

It's far more than that. It's turning away from the God hating mindset that has defined your life. The God ignoring mindset that has shaped your life.

The self-centered, self-justifying way of life. And just coming to Christ as a guilty sinner, as one deserving God's judgment and saying, I need a Savior and I have heard and I believe that you're the only one. Oh, Christ, won't you save me too? A response like that in your own words, from the depths of your own heart, to cry out to Christ like that.

That's the response. A response that says, I'll leave this world behind. I'll leave my life behind. I come to you and I give my life to you by faith. I believe everything that I've heard about you. I believe you save me.

Make me your own. I submit to you, Lord Jesus. Now, that's a pretty remarkable claim of assertion of authority that Christ would make upon your life.

I realize that. But you have to remember who he is, my friend. He's God in human flesh. He's Lord.

He's master. He is king. And therefore, he has the right to speak to any of his creatures and command what he will. It is his sovereign prerogative as king to say, this is what I require from you.

It's the claim and it's the demand that he makes. But what you've got to understand is, is that this is a loving and gracious king who's speaking this way. He's calling you to himself. So that he would forgive you of all of your sins. So that he would cleanse you. So that he would bring you into the family of God.

So that he would make you his own throughout all of eternity. And that the threat of eternal condemnation would be removed from your conscience. And in its place would be instead a reconciliation with God. A peace with God. Knowing that all of your sins have been forgiven.

That God has accepted you in Christ. This is the promise of the Bible. This is the promise of God. Scripture says, maybe you've heard the verse. John 3 16. That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You see this is a command that comes with a promise attached. The command is repent and believe in Christ. Receive him unconditionally. The promise is complete forgiveness of all of your sins. Complete welcome into the family of God.

Complete heaven forever with him. And so my friend in the name of Christ I call upon you to repent of your sins and to believe in Christ for eternal salvation. I plead with you as the Apostle Paul said. I beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

Now the reality of Christian salvation has a special meaning for you my transgender friend. There's a special application of what it can mean for you as you leave behind this lifestyle that you had chosen. There's a special meaning. There's something new in its place that is the greatest earthly aspect that I could offer to you. That I could explain to you.

And it brings us to our fifth and final point here this morning. Is that in Christ you find a new identity. You find a new identity.

You see not simply for transgender people who turn to Christ but for all people who turn to Christ. There's a new reality that sets in. It is immediate.

It is instantaneous. There is nothing that we do to earn it. But there is a new reality and it's this. And oh my friend I delight to tell you this. Is that as a Christian we no longer find our identity in how we feel about ourselves inside. There is a whole new identity that is given to us that is based on Christ. And what is identity anyway?

What is it anyway? It's our meaning. It's our purpose in life. It's what's most important to us.

It's how we see ourselves. Well my transgender friend for a person that's in Christ now it's no longer a matter of how I think about myself. My whole thinking is reoriented toward how God thinks about me and what God has done for me and who He is and what the consequences of that are. You see to be a Christian is to have a completely new identity in addition to having a completely new life. Christians are identified as those who are in Christ. What does that mean?

Why is that important? It means that we have a vital spiritual union with Him. Scripture describes us as being placed in Christ. That we belong to Him and that the life principle that animated Christ now animates us as well.

And that determines our meaning and purpose in life. You no longer have to look at yourself and say, say what kind of person am I? Am I a male? Am I a female? Am I something else?

It's no longer like that anymore. We don't even think in those categories anymore in the sense that there is a transcendent way that we think. In Christ you think about yourself as this, as one that God loved enough to send His Son into the world to save a sinner just like you. That in Christ you have an abiding friend.

You have an abiding God who said that I am with you always even to the end of the age. A love that loved you enough to suffer on a cross and to take all of your sins and pay for them and wash them all away. A love like that is never going to let you go. It's a love that you can never be separated from. It's a love that carries you through life and all the way into eternity. That's what the love of Christ is like. Permanent, unchanging, eternal. Once you are reconciled to God you can never fall away from Him again.

And that determines meaning, that determines purpose. It's no longer about how you feel inside but objectively outside of you what God has done for you in Christ. And it is the richest, most wonderful thing that a human being could ever experience and ever know that I am on the receiving end of eternal love from a holy God and He in Christ has reconciled me to Himself.

What wondrous love is this that a holy God would receive me, a sinner like that. And the love that you start to develop for Christ replaces that prior love for self and even replaces that prior hatred you have of the way that your body was made and changes your whole mind and outlook on life so that a Christian understands that. I'm no longer defined by my failures, by my prior sins.

I'm no longer defined by the feelings that I have inside even. I'm defined by something external to me that God has done, that God did for me, that God loved me enough to bring me to hear and to respond to. The Bible says, a Christian said in the Bible, the Apostle Paul again in Galatians 2 verse 20 said, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. You see, Paul found his complete identity, his complete purpose, his complete satisfaction in the direction and scope of his life in the reality that Christ loved him and gave himself up for a sinner like Paul. And that's the reality that everyone that comes to Christ finds and inherits as their own.

It becomes ours. I'm not defined by my family, by my preaching, by my ministry. I'm not defined by any of that. That could all be taken away. And the fundamental reality that is mine is a Christian, which is true of everyone that is in Christ, is that everything earthly could take away, and the most important thing is still in place, the eternal love of God for my soul, exercised by Christ, delivering me from my sin at the cross, and now having brought me into his family, he'll keep me forever.

The world could pass away. Those who have Christ have not lost an iota of their identity in him. And so what does that mean for you, my transgender friend?

Well, it means this. If you would come to Christ, it means that you're delivered from that life that's based on your shifting feelings and the conflicts that you feel inside. You're delivered from that, and you no longer live life based on those feelings of alienation, those feelings of alienation from the very body that was given to you at birth. Not your identity, not your gender, but the very body that was given to you, the alienation that you have felt from that is no longer the defining reality of your life. Instead, in Christ, you go forward in life as a man, as you were born, or as a woman, as you were born, restored to the image of God, restored to the purpose of God in making you like that in your mother's womb. That's what David said in Psalm 139. You fashioned me in my mother's womb.

God made you to be the very body that you have. And instead of living in conflict with that, as a Christian, you can have peace because God has accepted you in Christ. You can live to glorify him, and you can have this sense that I have been restored to what I was originally intended to be. And so, my friend, my transgender friend, what I say to you is there is so much more to life than what you have ever known. There is so much more to God than you ever suspected.

A God to be feared, for sure, but a God who will relieve those fears of judgment in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so what does Christ call you to do? He calls you to come out. He calls you to come out of everything about your life, to come out of everything that you've ever used to define your meaning and existence, and to come to Christ alone, to come as a beggar saying, Lord, save me. I leave this life behind. I come to be yours and yours alone, is the saving response. And so, my transgender friend, I'm bringing this to a close here. I call you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I call you to come out of your life and to come to Christ and to find salvation in Him alone. You see, my transgender friend, and I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to listen to this another time or two to let it all sink in.

It's kind of the nature of things. But my transgender friend, everything that I have said here on behalf of Christ is in the spirit of what He Himself says to you in His Word. When He says in Matthew chapter 11, Come unto me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My friend, that is a promise that you can depend on completely. Come to Christ. Come out of this life that you have known and come to Christ, and He will save you. He will change you.

He will make you His forevermore. Remember that no matter how deeply someone has gone into sin, there's always hope at the foot of the cross. Pray for those who need to discover their true identity in Jesus Christ, and then ask God for opportunities to share His love and truth with them.

Well, we hope this series has better equipped you to do that. Join us next time as Pastor Don Green begins a brand-new series here on The Truth Pulpit. But right now, here again is Don in studio with an important message. Friend, I invite you to our website, thetruthpulpit.com, to request your free CD album or find audio downloads of all of the messages that I did on this matter of transgenderism. Again, look for the series The Bible and Transgenderism at our website, thetruthpulpit.com. Thanks, Don. And friends, we're out of time for today. I'm Bill Wright inviting you back next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word from The Truth Pulpit.