Human Sexuality

Introduction

I said last week that the elders have asked me to preach from time to time on what you might call ‘hot topics’. And so, last week we spent our time thinking about the topic of assisted dying. Well, ages ago I preached two sermons on human nature and human knowing which you can find on my website if you’re interested. And it was always my intention to follow up those two sermons by preaching on human sexuality. And since human sexuality has become a hot topic, then I thought we could spend this evening thinking about it.

As I did last week, I’m going to use the creation, fall, redemption and consummation framework to help us think about this topic. So, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and all that they contain, he created man — male and female — in his own image. And the first man and woman were united as one flesh in marriage. Adam then disobeyed the Lord and everyone who is descended from him in the ordinary manner fell into a state of sin and misery so that every part of ourselves and our existence — including our sexuality — has been spoiled because of sin. But God loved the world and sent his Only Begotten Son into the world to deliver us from our sin — and the misery which comes from it — and to renew and restore us to what we were meant to be. And one day, the Lord Jesus will return in glory and with power to finish his work of restoration and to bring us into his presence in the new and better world to come where the church of Jesus Christ will be presented to Christ as a radiant bride and we will live happily ever after with him.

Creation

So, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then he proceeded to shape them by separating day and night and by separating the sky above and the earth beneath and by separating the sea and the land. And then he began to fill his creation with plants and trees and with the sun and moon and stars and with fish and birds and animals. And last of all, he made us.

And he made us body and soul. So, Adam’s body was formed from the dust of the earth so that he was part of the physical universe around him. Just like all the other creatures which God had made, Adam was flesh and blood. He possessed a physical body just as the other creatures on the earth possess a physical body. But Adam was made differently from the rest of creation, because God breathed into his nostrils the breath or the spirit of life and he became a living being. In other words, Adam was more than a body, because without this breath or spirit of life, his body was not yet a living being. So, he was more than a body, because he also possessed a soul or spirit.

That means we are not just physical beings, but we are also spiritual beings. We are body and soul or we are embodied souls. When a person now dies, their body and soul are separated. But this is only a temporary separation, because the day will come when the body and soul of every person who has lived will be re-united at the resurrection. This is true for believers and unbelievers. Their ultimate destination will be very different, because unbelievers will be raised to suffer eternal punishment, while believers will be raised to enjoy eternal life in the presence of God. However, everyone will be raised in body and soul.

And since God created us body and soul, then that makes us different from the animals, because they only possess a body and not a spirit or soul. It also makes us different from the angels, because they are spirits and they do not possess a body. A human is both body and soul.

And God created us male and female. At first, God created Adam, the first man. And God placed him in the garden, where he had everything he needed. However, Adam was lonely without human companionship. Though he was surrounded by the animals, he was lonely without someone who was like him. And so, God made Eve, the first woman, as the answer to his loneliness. And they are alike in that both were made by God, and both were made body and soul, and both were made in God’s image. Since they were made in God’s image, then they were made to reflect the glory of God on the earth. And being made in God’s image gives men and women a dignity and honour which neither the animals nor the angels possess.

And so, Adam and Eve were alike. But they were unlike, in that Adam was formed first and he was formed from the dust of the earth, whereas Eve was formed second and she was formed from Adam’s side. And they were different as well because one was a man and the other was a woman. And all the differences between them — the things that make men men and the things that make women women — are in accordance with God’s will, because he made them what they are. He was their Creator, their Designer and he created them different from one another. As one theologian (Oliver O’Donovan) has put it: we humans have received our nature as male and female from God. So, we did not create ourselves. We did not make ourselves this way and give ourselves the power to change our nature. And we did not receive our nature from a particular culture or tradition so that it changes depending on where or when we live. No, we received our nature as male and female from God. This is his will for us: that some of us are male and that some of us are female.

And it was God’s will for Adam and Eve to be united together as one flesh in marriage. Though Adam and Eve were two different individuals, they were united together to form one couple. And this was not only for themselves, but it was also for those who came after them, because the Scriptures speak about a man leaving his father and mother and being united to his wife so that they become one flesh. But Adam did not have a father and mother of his own to leave. And so, the Scriptures are speaking of what would be the case generally in every generation. In every generation, a man will leave his parents to be united with his wife.

And when God created us, male and female in his image, he blessed us and commissioned us to be fruitful and to increase in number and to fill the earth and to subdue it by cultivating and developing it and by unearthing and using all the rich treasures that God has placed in the world for our benefit. But Adam was unable to do this by himself. And so, he needed Eve to help him. And from out of their union, there came the whole of the human race.

And so, this is how God created us in the beginning. He made us body and soul. And he made us male and female. And he made us in his image. And through the one-flesh union of men and women, we were to fulfil our calling from God to fill the earth and to subdue it. It was God’s will in the beginning for the world to be filled with little images of himself, who would individually and together reflect his glory on the earth.

Fall

And yet God’s will for us has been interrupted because of Adam’s fall in the beginning. The serpent — who was really the devil in disguise — approached Eve to question her about what the Lord had revealed to Adam about the Tree of Knowledge in the garden and to tempt her to disobey the Lord’s clear command by eating the forbidden fruit.

And not only did Eve take and eat the fruit, but Adam did too. And by disobeying the command of the Lord, Adam fell into that state of sin and misery which I mentioned last week. And since Adam was our head and since he represented us, then we too fell with him into sin and misery. It’s a state of sin because everyone who is descended from Adam in the ordinary manner is born a sinner so that sinning comes naturally to us now. We are sinfully included to disobey God. And it’s a state of misery because sin causes misery to ourselves, because of God’s judgment on our sin; and to others, because of all the sinful things we do to one another. Sin disrupts and spoils every relationship, beginning with our relationship with God, but including every other relationship.

After their disobedience, God announced to Eve that he will greatly increase her pains in childbearing so that with pain she will give birth to children. So, family life will continue: husbands and wives will continue to have children; we will still be able to fill the earth. But family life is now disrupted and bearing and raising our children will not only bring us joy, but it will also bring us pain and grief and sorrow.

And the Lord also said to Eve that her desire will be for her husband. And the Hebrew word for ‘desire’ means that she will desire to rule over him. She will want to dominate her husband. But he will rule over you, said the Lord. And so, there will be this tug of war in marriage between husband and wife, each one trying to rule over and dominate the other. They will vie with one another and compete. Instead of living and working together in a happy union, they will cause each other grief and sorrow and frustration.

And so, because of Adam’s sin in the beginning, sin and misery came into the world. And throughout the rest of the Bible we read about our sins, including our sexual sins, and the misery they cause. So, there’s adultery which is the sexual union of a married person with someone who is not their spouse. And there’s polygamy when a married person has more than one spouse. Or a married person may have concubines as well as a wife. There’s fornication, which is the sexual union of two people who are both unmarried. There’s incest, which is the sexual union of relatives. And there’s homosexuality which is the sexual union of two people of the same sex. And in Ephesians 5:12, Paul refers to things which people do in secret which are too shameful even to mention.

God in his word forbids all of these things. And our church’s Larger Catechism explains for us that the seventh commandment forbidding adultery also forbids all corrupt and obscene talk and shameless behaviour and immodest dress and provocative songs, books, pictures, dances and plays (and we might say, movies and social streams). It also forbids all other provocations to, or acts of, impurity, either in ourselves or others.

And yet, because we’re sinners, the world is now full of pornographic movies and pictures, easily available on the internet. And social media streams are full of pictures which people take of themselves, wearing provocative clothes or striking provocative poses. The songs we listen to are filled with explicit lyrics. And because sex is everywhere, and we’ve just got used to it, T-shirts with sexual messages on them are being sold to little children and no-one stops to think whether it’s appropriate.

And, of course, we sin against the Lord not only by our actions, but also by our sinful thoughts and desires as well. And so, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus made clear that we commit adultery when we look lustfully at another person. He said that we can commit adultery in our heart. And so, even when we do not actually commit a sin with our body, we still sin against the Lord if we desire to do what is sinful. And our hearts are full of these sinful desires and inclinations and attitudes because we’re sinners by birth. And from out of the heart come all kinds of sinful actions.

But God, who loves us and who wants what is best for us, has given us his laws and commandments in both the Old and New Testaments to restrain our natural wickedness and to protect us from our own sinfulness. He gives us his commandments to guide us along the right path, which is not only the right path, but it’s the path to true sexual happiness, because true sexual happiness is not found in filth, but in contented singleness or in faithful marriage.

And as well as giving us his laws to guide us, God restrains our natural wickedness by warning us of the judgment we can expect when we disregard his word and do the things which he has forbidden.

And not only does he give us his laws and his warnings, but he also gives us a conscience to be a kind of ethical organ which commends us when we do well and which condemns us when we do evil and which makes us feel ashamed. And shame is a good thing. When we are feel ashamed of ourselves, our body is telling us that we have done wrong. It’s warning us so that we will stop doing wrong and begin to do what’s right.

However, because we’re sinners, we disregard God’s laws and commandments. Because we’re sinners, we do not believe his warnings. Because we’re sinners, we silence our conscience and we become shameless. And we find new ways to sin against the Lord. So, while there have always been cases of men dressing as women and of women dressing as men, we now have the medical technology to change our bodies so that a person who was born male can look like a woman; and a person who was born female can look like a man. And people who undergo such surgery do so because they are unhappy with the way God has made them. Instead of submitting to God’s will for them, they rebel against him just as Adam and Eve rebelled against him in the garden.

Those who support this kind of thing say that our biological sex is one thing, but what really matters is what they call our ‘gender identity’. And our ‘gender identity’, they say, may not always match our biological sex. So, a person who is biologically male may not feel happy with his male body and want to become a woman. And a person who is biologically female may not feel happy with her female body and may want to become a man. Even though there is no physiological abnormality — that is to say, even though there is nothing physically wrong with their bodies — they wish to undergo surgery to change their bodies.

But, no one is able to change their biological sex. No one who is a man can become a woman; and no one who is a woman can become a man. A man may undergo surgery to make him look like a woman, but he is still a man. And a woman may undergo surgery to make her look like a man, but she is still a woman.

People will still insist that their ‘gender identity’ is what matters most. They say that what matters most to them is not what they are, but what they feel. And so, a man may say he feels like a woman. Or a woman may say she feels like a man. Or someone may say that what they feel they are changes. It goes back and forth. And someone may say that what they feel they are is neither one or the other. People say that their ‘gender identity’ matters more than their biological sex. What they feel matters more than what they actually are.

How did we get to this? In the books I’ve read on the subject, several ideas keep coming up. One is an ancient heresy called gnosticism which regarded the physical world and everything belonging to the physical world — including our bodies — as evil. The spirit inside us is good, the gnostics say, but it’s imprisoned by our physical body. And so, we need to free ourselves from the confines of our body. And so, today people want to separate what God has joined together: our body and soul. And they say they need to free their true self from their body even though God’s word makes plain that our bodies are part of God’s good creation.

Another idea is expressive-individualism which I’ve mentioned before. This is about finding and being my true self and it’s about expressing my true self without having to conform to what others say. And so, my true self is what I feel myself to be deep down inside. And if a man feels that his true self is a woman, then he wants to express his true self by dressing like a woman or by undergoing surgery.

Another idea is cultural marxism which I’ve mentioned before. Regular marxism was about an economic revolution and how the workers will rise up and overthrow those who own the means of production; and private property will be abolished. That’s regular marxism. Cultural marxism, though, is about a cultural revolution and it’s about how people will do what they can to overthrow the dominant culture of the west and replace all our values with new values. What we consider good and beautiful and true will be replaced. And since the culture of the west is based on Christianity, then it’s about overthrowing Christianity. And it’s also about destroying families and by driving a wedge between parents and their children. And those who write about cultural marxism say that it’s already happening. In fact, they say it’s been happening slowly since the 1970s or 80s and the pressure to call people by their preferred pronoun is all part of the revolution as is ‘cancel culture’, when someone who doesn’t conform to this new way of thinking is cancelled and treated as an outcast.

These kinds of ideas and this way of thinking about ourselves and the world is all around us now. It’s the air that we breathe and people are brought up to think in these ways. They’re brought up to believe that, if they’re unhappy with themselves, it’s the fault of society. And they’ve been brought up to believe that they can do something about it, because they can change themselves.

It seems to me that this way of thinking and behaving goes back to what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, where he said to his Christian readers that we were dead in our transgressions and sins in which we once walked when we followed the ways of this world — that is, this sinful world — and when we followed the ways of the ruler of the kingdom of the air — that is, the devil — and when we gratified the cravings of our fallen flesh and followed its desires and thoughts. Before someone is raised up with Christ to live a new kind of life, that person’s life is dominated by the sinful world around us, by the devil who tempts us, and by our own fallen nature, with all its sinful desires and thoughts and feelings. And so, before we’re raised with Christ to live a new life, we’re under the influence of an unbelieving world which leads people further and further into sin. And we’re under the influence of the devil who leads people further and further into sin. And we’re under the influence of our own sinful human nature which leads us further and further into sin. Those who want to free themselves from God and from his will for our lives find themselves enslaved to these sinful powers.

Or as Paul says in Romans 6, before a person comes to faith in Christ, that person is a slave of sin. Sin is that person’s master. In other words, sin is a power. It’s a force. It makes us do evil. And it will not stop. Instead it will make its slaves go deeper and deeper and deeper into sin.

And in fact, letting people go deeper and deeper and deeper into sin is part of God’s temporal judgment on sinners. In Romans 1, Paul wrote about how people suppress or repress the truth about God, which God is continually revealing to us. People repress it because they’re sinners. And they exchange the truth about God for idols and false gods. They worship created things instead of the Creator. Therefore, says Paul, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their sinful hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. And God gave them over to shameful lusts. And he gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. Paul is telling us that when we turn away from God, God releases his restraining grip on us and he lets us fall deeper and deeper and deeper into sin. And we see the result all around us today.

And yet, none of us should be proud and we must not look down on other people for doing things that we do not do. We must not be proud, because we too are sinners and the only reason we do not do what they do is because of God’s kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

And we should not condemn them, because we are not their Lord and they are not accountable to us, but to him. And so, we should bear with them patiently and pray for their salvation.

And we should remember that sin is not only something which people do, but sin is something which has enslaved them. They have been trapped by sin. Sin binds them. And they need to be delivered from it.

Redemption

And because God loves the world he sent his Only Begotten Son to deliver people from their sin and misery and to renew and restore them to what they were meant to be.

Since God made the world in the beginning, then it is his world. And since it’s his world, he was not prepared to abandon it to sin and satan. He was not prepared to give us up. And so, he sent his Son to save us by his life and death and resurrection on our behalf. By his life, he lived the life we should have lived, which is a life of perfect obedience to God. And he lived it for us. By his death, he has paid for our sins and shortcomings with his life and he has made peace for us with God. By his resurrection, he assures us that even though we die, yet we shall live. And from his throne in heaven, he sends his Spirit into the lives of his people to enable them to believe in his name for the forgiveness of their sins and for the hope of glory and to renew them and to make them more and more willing and able to keep his laws and commandments and to do his will here on earth.

And so, by God’s grace, we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness so that we’re able, more and more, to do what is right in God’s sight. And whereas we once hated God’s law and wanted to be free of it, we now love God’s law and want to keep it. Whereas once we thought nothing of sinning against God, now we hate sin and want to avoid it.

And so, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and said to them:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

That’s what you once were, but now you have been washed and sanctified and justified. They have been washed, because God has washed away their guilt. They have been sanctified because God has set them apart from sin to belong to him and to do his will. And they have been justified or pardoned and accepted by God through faith in Christ who died for us. Once we did all these vile things, but not any longer, because of Christ.

In Ephesians Paul says that we once were dead in our transgressions and sins in which we once walked. But now we walk in good works. How did that happen? Paul explains that God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ and raised us up with him to the heavenly realms. He raised us with Christ to live a new kind of life: one of good deeds instead of sin.

In Colossians Paul teaches us to put to death whatever is earthly and not heavenly. And that includes sexual immorality and impurity and lust and evil desires and greed. He says you used to walk in these ways. So, you used to be like that. But not any longer, because you now belong to Christ who has delivered you from these things.

To Titus, Paul says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. And it teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled and upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for Christ our Saviour who gave himself to deliver us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are eager to do what is good.

Throughout the New Testament, God makes clear that he delivers his people from our sin and misery by his Son who died for us. And he changes us. He renews and restores us. Grace restores nature. Because of Adam’s fall in the beginning, our whole nature has been corrupted by sin. But God is graciously at work in his people by his Spirit to renew and restore us so that we’re able to live upright and holy and good lives.

And in Ephesians and Colossians, Paul teach believing husbands to love their wives and he teaches believing wives to submit to their husbands. And husbands are able to love their wives, and wives are able to submit to their husbands, because they have the Holy Spirit to help them. And Paul tells Titus to teach older men in the church to be temperate and worthy of respect and self-controlled and sound in faith and love. And they can be those things because of the Spirit who lives in them. And Paul tells Titus to teach older women in the church to be reverent in the way they live and to teach the younger women to live with their husbands and children and to be self-controlled and pure. And they can be and do those things because of the Spirit who lives in them. And Paul tells Titus to teach the younger men to be self-controlled. And they can be self-controlled because of the Spirit who lives in them.

God loves the world and he will not abandon it. And so, he sent his Son to deliver us from our sin and misery and to renew us by his Spirit. And with the help of the Spirit, God’s people are able to live holy and pure lives in their families. And with the blessing of God, we’re able to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth with little images of God who reflect his glory on the earth.

Consummation

And the day is coming when Christ will come again in glory and with power to complete what he has begun and to renew completely the heavens and earth and to renew completely his people and to bring us into God’s presence in the new heavens and earth.

In Revelation 21, we’re told plainly that not everyone will enter it. And among those who are kept out are the sexually immoral. That is, those who remain sexually immoral in this life and who did not repent and believe the good news. But those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life — and who therefore belong to him and who have been saved by him — will be brought into the new heavens and earth to be with God for ever and for ever, where they will see the glory of God in the face of Christ who saved them from their sin and misery.

When the Sadducees once asked the Lord about the resurrection, he said that those who are raised will neither marry nor be given in marriage. That suggests that marriage is for this life only and it’s not for the life to come. And that’s because every marriage in this life between a man and a woman is a picture of the union between Christ and his church, which will be consummated in the life to come, when Christ’s church will be made perfect and will be presented before him as a radiant bride.

Marriage in this life points to the hope we have of eternal life, when the church will be with the Lord for ever and we will live happily ever after with him. And so, when the reality comes — when Christ and his church are united in the world to come — the earthly pictures are put away and marriage is no more.

But since marriage was designed by God to be a picture of the union between Christ and his church, then we are not at liberty to change the picture. According to God’s design, when a husband loves his wife, he’s illustrating Christ’s love for his church. And according to God’s design, when a wife submits to her husband, she’s illustrating the church submitting to Christ. And so, instead of trying to change what marriage is, we should honour it and preserve it, because it’s a picture of our life together with Christ both now and for evermore.