Confirming God's Design for Humanity

Today I'm going to give you the title of my sermon up front. I've entitled today's sermon, Confirming God's Design for Humanity. Confirming God's Design for Humanity.

In recent weeks, depending on which media you tend to look at, there's been given more attention in recent weeks to what some are calling the secular assault on the biblical view of gender, sexual morality, and marriage. And let me share with you just a few examples. When I started looking for examples, my list became very long, and I don't want to give all my time to that. But I do want to give us some examples in case some of you are not as aware of what's been going on, especially in the western world. You may have heard of, three weeks ago, Mr.

Victor Kubik in the E-News had a reference to this. This is a new law that's been passed in Canada. It took effect in January. It's a law that bans conversion therapy for people who may want to escape homosexuality. Now, the concern is for many Christian leaders, is that they see that the law is a, in Canada that is, this law is a clear threat to religious freedom.

Many Canadian pastors are concerned that this will put a lid on free speech and also religious freedom. They're concerned that it's going to impact how they can preach and what they say in public about the Bible's admonition specifically about against homosexual behavior. Apparently, if this law had been so interpreted, it could possibly send someone speaks out against this to prison for five years.

And of course, we do have a number of ministers of the United Church of God in Canada. It is dry in the air. Excuse me. There's another case occurring in Finland, in Europe. In Finland, two people are on criminal trial for what Christianity today writes is, they're on criminal trial for upholding historic Christian teachings on sexual morality. They are accused of violating the equality and dignity of LGBT people.

That's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people. George Neumire of spectator.org, he writes that simply quoting the Bible's condemnation of sexual immorality is now sufficient to qualify as a hate crime in Finland. Pavi Rasinin, one of the two people being prosecuted. I did not do that on purpose. That was a slip, but it fits, maybe. She's a wife of a Lutheran minister, and she's one of them being prosecuted right now. She writes, I cannot accept that voicing my religious beliefs could mean imprisonment.

I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering, or insulting anyone. My statements were all based on the Bible's teachings on marriage and sexuality. Now, listed among her hate crimes is a tweet, which included a photograph of Romans chapter 1 verse 24 through 27 from the Bible. And that reads in part verse 26. This is part of what she's accused of committing a hate crime. She sent a picture of this verse, For this reason God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged natural use for what is against nature.

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their loss for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. For that, she was accused of a hate crime. And it's possible she could go to two years for jail, although the prosecutor is asking for a fine instead, but it is a very chilling thing going on there in Finland as well.

Meanwhile, in the United States, last week it was reported that a mandatory teacher training program in Chicago public schools claims that sex is socially constructed, and the school threatened disciplinary measures for staff who had not used a student's preferred gender pronouns. That's according to multiple teachers in as they reported to Fox News. The teachers are instructed that everyone has multiple overlapping identities, and that gender and sex are socially constructed. Well, that means that gender and sex have been created and enforced by the people in a society.

And so based on that, anyone who wants to can ask to be called by a different pronoun than their biological sex. You can be called she or her, or actually they're coming up with new pronouns now. I would I think I'd find it challenging to teach. I used to teach English. I think I'd find it challenging to teach nowadays in certain situations. Now, a common theme in these three reports and many other media reports that you can find out there if you google and look around, it won't take you long to see what I'm talking about.

A common theme in these and other media reports is that those who uphold biblical views about the two sexes, the two genders, about sexual morality and marriage, now these are views which are now contrary to homosexual and transgender ideology, people that hold biblical views are considered to be hateful bigots, self-righteous criminals, and my word, ignoramuses. We're just stupid and backward.

Is that what we are? Is that what we are? I say no. We are not. Matthew 544. Are we hateful bigots?

Matthew 544. Jesus, as he does in many places, makes this command of us, those who have been called by God the Father and have welcomed that calling and follow Christ and God. Matthew 544. Jesus gave this instruction, but I say to you, love your enemies.

Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Are we self-righteous? Are we self-righteous criminals of sorts? Let's look and let's return to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians chapter 6. God the Father has called us out of our sinful ways.

He has called us out of our sinful ways so that we might inherit the kingdom of God. Eventually, he wants everyone in his kingdom, but he has called some now to be firstfruits.

We didn't seek it. He sought us. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 through 11. I want to read here, are we self-righteous criminals?

Paul wrote this. He said, writing to the brethren there in Corinth, do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners. I think the list could go on and on. None of these will inherit the kingdom of God. But look at verse 11. And such were some of you, some whom God calls were all these and more.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

We are not self-righteous. We should not be self-righteous. Let me put it that way. We should not be hateful. We should not be self-righteous. But we do know where our calling is from, and we do know from where God has called us. We also know that we must hate the sin, but not the sinner. We must hate the sin, but not the sinner. And instead of ignorantly calling evil and good evil—I've referred to that in the last few messages, I think, from Isaiah 5, verse 20—and instead of blindly following a way that seems right to us, Proverbs 14, verse 12, we have chosen to believe and follow God's instruction and God's biblical view of humanity. What is the biblical view? What is that biblical view? Well, it is this. God created humanity as male and female.

Godly marriage is between a man and woman, as biologically defined. Physical sexual activity is only permitted or encouraged inside a biblically defined marriage.

Sexual acts between men and women—excuse me—men and men. Sexual acts between men and men are women and women are not permitted and are condemned. Now, those sentences I'm quoting from Victor Kubik's E-News of January 13th. Now, despite what scoffers say, God is, is the creator of humanity, and the sovereign authority over our lives—not the activists, not the politicians, and certainly not our own personal feelings and our personal opinions.

Our authority is God in His Word. The secular influence of homosexual and transgender ideology is causing great confusion and discouragement from many, especially among our children.

If you've been keeping up with what's going on in education in the United States, it's frightening. And as parents, I was not happy when I had to have my discussion with my children at what I thought was an early age around sixth grade about the so-called birds and the bees because it was being forced on them. Now, I'm sad to say you really need to start having that conversation about fourth grade, at least, because in middle school there are people out there that will take advantage of a child's natural confusion sometimes about purity and gender and take advantage of that and start encouraging them to think about choosing a pronoun they might want to use. So it's a warning to us as parents, grandparents, all of us. So this new ideology, it's not new, it's old, but it's being pushed harder. It's causing great confusion and discouragement for many. But for those who follow God and Christ, we need not be confused. We need not be discouraged. We need to hold fast to God's truth, to believe it, and to do it. We must hold fast to the guiding light of God's Word. Jesus Christ declared in John 1717, God's Word is truth. In Isaiah 820, God tells us to believe His Word. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said to the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no no light in them. It's all darkness.

In Ephesians 5a, if you can turn there, please. We'll be coming back to scripture later. In Ephesians 5 verse 8, we are told to leave the darkness behind. That's what God has called us out of. We're to leave the darkness behind and walk in God's light. Ephesians 5 verse 8, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Live as children of light.

So God is our Creator, and scripture reveals His wonderful purpose in His design for humanity.

Today, we're going to turn to the Bible, to scripture, and we're going to confirm together God's view and purpose for the sexes and genders, for sexual morality, for marriage.

And so that's why I've entitled this sermon, Confirming God's Design for Humanity.

So what does the light of scripture then tell us about God's design and purpose for humanity? Well, we begin at the beginning. We begin at the beginning with the biblical view of the two sexes, Genesis chapter 1. Human beings, despite what you may be hearing, despite the science, human beings were created male and female in the image of God, and with the potential and with the potential become the children of God, partakers of the divine image. In Genesis 1.26, God declared His purpose to create humanity in the image of God. And there it is we read. Well-known scripture. Then God said, let us make man, meaning humanity, in our image according to our likeness. Of course, the reference here is to God and the Word who was God with God.

So He declared His purpose, and then verse 27 we see that God did what He said He would do. Verse 27, so God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created Him, male and female. He created them. And then verse 31, was it a mistake? Was there anything wrong with these two sexes, these two genders? That's what we're hearing sometimes. The Bible says, verse 31, then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. Not bad, very good. And so again, we learn that men and women were created in God's image and likeness. We are created to be like Him, to be like God. And there are two important concepts or ideas here I want to draw out from these verses. The first is that what people have normally seen is that people have generally understood that these verses mean that we, mortal human beings, have a physical fleshly body, similarly fashioned to be in appearance and function unto God. But God is spirit. God is immortal. And so for example, throughout the Bible, we find references. References are made to God as having arms and hands, feet. God can see us. He has eyes. God has ears to hear, and so on. But the Bible also reveals that God has thoughts. He can speak.

And so humanity has our physical versions of ears and hands, like unto God. We can think. We can speak. Physically and mortally speaking, we bear a similitude to God.

Now, despite the confusion of some wrong-minded people, that they are causing and pushing this agenda, this homosexual and transgender agenda, God created these human beings as male and female. He created them to be biologically distinct. And it starts at the genetic level. It goes beyond what we can see physically. It's at the genetic level.

And Scripture also reveals that God expects that distinction to be preserved. God wants that distinction to be respected, even so far as to our appearances, and to the very clothes we choose to wear. Let's look at Deuteronomy 22, verse 5. You see, in our society today, there's a purposeful intent to blur distinctions, to cause confusion. That is not the way of our God. Deuteronomy 22, verse 5. Here we find a law that prohibits what today you may have heard commonly called as cross-dressing. Cross-dressing is the act of wearing items of clothing not commonly associated with one's sex. Now, how we dress can vary according to culture, where you live in the world, but each culture has its own distinct code, you might say, for how men would dress and how women are to dress. And here we read verse 5, Deuteronomy 22, a woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. Well, what does abomination mean? Mounts' expository dictionary explains that the Hebrew word here is to-aiba, t-o-e-b-a, t-o-e-b-a. It's translated as detestable thing, unarepulsive thing, or abomination. And it generally denotes persons or actions that are morally or religiously offensive, especially to God. That's from Mounts' expository dictionary. Now, some scholars suggest that this particular law against cross-dressing here, maybe it came about due to the children of Israel being tempted by homosexuality. It could have been due to the temptation of the fertility cults and practices of idol worship, which were prevalent in ancient times.

Now, in any case, whatever that-wherever the source of this is, it is something from God. This law shows that God does not want the distinction between male and female to be ignored or intentionally confused. God expected his people to look and behave like the men and women he created them to be. We would then be wise to avoid following society's proclivity for dressing like the opposite sex. Now, someone might say, what's the big deal? What's the big deal? It's just about clothes. People are more than clothes. Well, you see, it's about much more than just clothes.

It's about our attitude. It's about our attitude towards God. Are we willing to believe what God says and do it? Are we willing to submit to God?

If we truly respect and truly revere God, then we will take God's instruction seriously. We need to think about this. We need to evaluate ourselves. We need to judge ourselves. And even when it comes to a seemingly little thing like clothes, little things are important to God. Here's a parable. Let's turn there with me. Luke 19, please. Luke chapter 19. I understand little things. I like to sometimes ignore things. I know I shouldn't be, whether it's a speed limit or whatever it might be.

There are ramifications for the choices we make.

Luke 19. And I'm just going to read a couple verses here.

In the words of from the parable of the Minas in Luke 19 verse 17, here the backstory is a master has left and given a little amount of money to servants and asked them to invest it to take good care of it. In verse 16, you can read the rest of the story perhaps later today, but here in verse 16, then came the first servant saying, Master, your One-Mina has earned ten minas.

And the master said to him, Well done, good servant, because you are faithful in a very little have authority over ten cities. So for a little effort, a little investment of One-Mina, he was going to be given responsibility over ten cities. The so-called little things do matter to God, and I'd encourage us to make sure the little things of God matter to us, too. And so when it comes to how we dress as men and women, we do need to abide by God's principles. We need to abide by God's biblical view. We need the right attitude towards God. We must be striving to please God, rather than pleasing other people or even pleasing ourselves. God must come first.

Now, second thing, going back to Genesis 1, verses 26 through 27, those verses that point out how humanity was created in the image and likeness of God, men and women, male and female. There's something more being said here that we need not to forget. This should be familiar to us, but we need not forget it. There's more than being created with a mortal, physical, and limited similitude of God. Humanity was also created and is being created to be like God in a very profound way. Scripture actually reveals that humanity is still in the process of being created in the image and likeness of God. We know that process as a process of conversion, which leads to salvation. Every human being has the potential to be a son or daughter of God, to be children in God's divine family. 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 through 4, makes it clear that God wants us for all people. God desires all men to be saved. You can read in 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 through 4. In other words, God does want a large family. He wants us all, all humanity, to be his children spiritually in a very real sense. We find this open to understanding with God's help. God has to reveal these things to us. Let's look at John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 10 through 13.

John 1, 10 through 13, John declares that the purpose for Jesus Christ's coming was to make the way possible for human beings to be created in the true image and likeness of God.

John chapter 1, verse 10 through 13. He was in the world, speaking of Jesus Christ, he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Let's also turn next to Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2, verse 10.

And again, it has been God's intention for humanity to become his sons. Now, the word sons traditionally means, can mean, descendants. It can mean something much more than just that male gender, children. It can mean descendants, children, both sons and daughters.

Hebrews 2, verse 10, we see that Jesus Christ takes the lead. He leads the way, Jesus Christ leads the way in being the first human being to be resurrected to glory.

Hebrews 2, verse 10, for it was fitting for him, for he was also God, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons, children, to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Finally, let's also read 1 John, chapter 3. 1 John, chapter 3, 1 through 2.

One day we are told we are to see God as he is, that means in his glory.

For we will be his divine children. 1 John 3, verse 1.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us. This reveals why they think we're ignoramuses. They don't know God, they don't know us. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. In that begettle sense, if we have God's Spirit in us. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. How else will we see God as he is in his glory? Or how shall we be like him in his glory, in his glory, unless we follow our captain of salvation, Jesus Christ. And be born not of blood, but of God in the full spiritual sense through the resurrection to immortality, as Scripture reveals. And so in Genesis 1, 26 through 27, says God created humanity in his own image.

We should understand that God is still at work in creating humanity in his own image. And we're part of that work. We are that work in progress. Those of us called of God and have welcomed and accepted that calling. We are God's work in progress. Now, God also created marriage. God created marriage. Marriage is not a social construct in which the patriotic authority men hold women as chattel or property.

If that's what some think of marriage, that's what humanity in its hard heart and sin has done. That is not how God created marriage, although some like to depict marriage that way. But that was not God's way and intent. Let's go back to Genesis 2.

Genesis 2.

Let's look at verse 18. Marriage was not created by human beings. Genesis 2.18.

And the Lord God said, after he made woman, leading up to that point, and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. Now, I'm going to pause here because this verse, by the way, also makes clear that God intentionally did not want humanity to be only one sex, one gender. He didn't want just men.

For humanity to be complete and to fulfill God's commandment to be fruitful and multiply, God had to create the missing component. God created the female sex gender. He created woman. And he would make woman man's helper in marriage. I'm going to have something a little more to say about a helper, woman being a helper in just a moment. Continuing in verse 21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and he closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

And then verse 24, the marriage statement here, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

One flesh.

And so God designed and created marriage. God intended marriage to be between one man and one woman, a monogamous, heterosexual relationship.

Marriage as a same-sex relationship was never a part of God's plan. Has never been a part of God's plan.

As one author I read said, Same-sex marriage is a poor mimic of true marriage created by God. It's a poor mimic of true marriage.

Now about a woman, a wife, being a helper.

A woman-wife is being a helper to a man and husband as marriage has been taking hits for decades now.

To be a helper is not a disparaging thing.

It's not a disparaging word, as some progressive-minded people insist it is. The Hebrew word for helper is azur, E-Z-E-R.

Azur means one who helps.

It's the very same word applied to God in Psalm 33 verse 20. You can jot that down, but it says in Psalm 33 verse 20, Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help, our azur and our shield.

Also in Psalm 70 verse 5. Psalm 70 verse 5.

The psalmist says, But I am poor and needy. Make haste to me, O God. You are my help, my azur and my deliverer. O Lord, do not delay. These verses are interesting, or should be interesting to us, because they reveal that an azur, a helper, is by no means inferior to the one receiving the help.

God is not inferior to the one he helps. In this regard, I'm going to refer again to Mounts' dictionary. Mounts adds this insight.

According to God's design, therefore, the man and the woman, the husband and the wife, have been designed by God to stand together. And the woman, designed to help him and the man to help her, are there to help each other fight the battles of life.

Whatever those battles may be, sometimes those battles are finding what? The right socks. Sometimes the battle is to get the bug in the shower.

I don't want it to be there. Not me, my wife. No, just kidding. Anyway, sometimes that help is we don't want to be alone. We're sick and we need help.

That is a big help. A wonderful help.

So to be a helper as God designed and created the wife to be is actually high praise.

It is high praise. God intended the wife to be a helper to a husband, even as God is our helper. There's that similarity, that parallel role. And obviously the husband is to help his wife as well. My point is, the wifely role is not and was never meant to be odious, a terrible thing.

Now sin and hard hearts can make it so, but that is not God's design. That is not what God intended. Of course, we don't usually hear this biblical view of marriage widely expressed nowadays.

The New Testament, by the way, also confirms God's original design for marriage. Marriage is to be a mutually loving and helping relationship between a man and a woman as husband and wife. Let's turn back to Matthew 19. Matthew 19, verses 4-6. Marriage is under assault. Marriage as God designed it is under assault. It has been for some time, many years.

We must understand how God meant marriage to be. We must be sure to help our children and grandchildren to understand these things. If we don't teach our children and grandchildren these truths, they're going to learn the wrong ideas about marriage. In Matthew 19, verses 4-6, we can read how Jesus taught and confirmed the Genesis account of humanity's creation. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus answered, He answered and said to them, Pharisees, Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made the male and female as Genesis 1.27, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Again, Genesis 2.24. He did not change what Jesus did not change what marriage is about. So then they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. Jesus confirmed that humanity was created as two sexes, two genders, and that God designed and created marriage accordingly. And there's something more. Verses 6-9, Jesus also revealed that God discerned marriage to be a lifelong commitment. That's how God designed it to be. And so again, we just read what God has joined together. Verse 6, let not man separate. And they said to him in response, Well, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? And Jesus said, verse 8, He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts permitted you to divorce your wives. But look at this. But from the beginning, in Genesis, it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her, who is divorced, commits adultery. The point here is divorce is not something God designed for marriage. Look what is allowed at times because of sin. God designed marriage to be a lifelong relationship. That's how He wanted it to be. That's how He wants it to be. That's how it's meant to be.

Sadly, divorce rate in this country, in the Western world, it's atrocious.

How many times, for example, do you read of celebrities getting married, and then in the next month or so, they're divorced? Not that there are role models. Some may be good role models. I know I'm not condemning people because they're celebrities. But sometimes they are set up to be our examples of what we should esteem. Not all of them are worthy of that. Sometimes their marriages are not something we should admire or want to emulate. Let's just put it that way. The apostles also upheld God's design for marriage. Let's be turning to Ephesians 5.

And through God's inspiration, the apostles have helped to expand our understanding to see marriage as a reflection of Jesus Christ's relationship to the church. If we understand marriage as God intended it, and as He instructs us, it helps us to truly understand just how much Jesus Christ loves the church, how much Jesus Christ loves us, who are of the church, who are part of that body, the church. The loving relationship in marriage is a type of the loving relationship Christ has towards the church as a whole and towards each of us who comprise the church. Let's look at verse 22, Ephesians 5. I'm just going to read through this for the most part. The similarity, the parallel, the correlation is there. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, as to the Lord. Submission is involved in these relationships. For the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, verse 25, husbands love your wives. How?

Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be the one who will be but that she should be holy and without blemish. And so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. They are one flesh.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church.

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. And for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Over and over. We have that witness of what marriage is to be.

Verse 32. This is a great mystery, but I speak, Paul says, concerning Christ and the Church. But nevertheless let each one of you, in particular, so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

In this way, Paul confirms that God created marriage to be a special, lifelong relationship between a husband and his wife.

Our relationship with Christ is to be a lifelong, eternal relationship as well. God designed marriage to help us understand just how much Jesus Christ loves and cherishes us. His is a selfless and enduring love that he desires to share with every human being.

That's pretty incredible when you think about that, how great his love is. Now, ideally, marriage also leads to children and to the expansion of the family. Thus, that would fulfill God's command to be fruitful and multiply. God created family.

God created family. In Scripture, God also wants to expand his divine family by adding many sons and daughters through the process of conversion unto salvation, unto eternal life. Let's be turning to Romans chapter 8.

Romans chapter 8. If we have been begotten by the Father through his Holy Spirit, then even now in that state of spiritual begettle, God considers us to be his children in that spiritual sense. We are all children in that God is our Creator. He created humanity physically, but this goes beyond that.

As his begotten children, we are to be growing and developing spiritually while waiting to be born into the family of God, into the kingdom of God. Let's look at Romans 8 verse 9. Things we must not forget that we must not take lightly. Romans 8 verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, which dwells in you. And continuing verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. The better word here could be either way, but the better word in this case would be sonship. The Vy-standard version is sonship by whom we cry out Abba, Father, becoming actual members of God's family, sons, his children. Verse 16. We cry out Abba, Father. 16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children and heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, if we live as Christ lived, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, there's been sufferings in every time, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of all the creation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. In verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the sonship, the redemption of our body. So while yet in this mortal flesh, those who have been begotten and led of God's Holy Spirit are considered to be the sons, the children of God. But full sonship will be theirs upon Jesus Christ's return to establish God's kingdom on earth, at last Trump. This family relationship, our becoming children of God the Father, is the very heart and core of God's plan and design for humanity. Becoming children of God is a very heart and core of God's plan and design for humanity. At the resurrection of the firstfruits, those who have endured to the end shall become spiritually born children of God our Father. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. It's all tied in. God's design for humanity. 1 Corinthians 15, 45.

Here Paul describes first, we're going to read 45 through 53. Paul describes first the physical simitude we have, his mortal fleshly beings. Then he describes the spiritual ultimate fulfillment of men and women becoming the children of God and that full image, full likeness of God. Verse 45, and so is written, Paul states, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Contrast here. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. It's exciting.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you in mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Now to Revelation 19, verse 7 through 9.

These saints of God, firstfruits, will also be those who attend a marriage. God loves marriage. He loves humanity. He wants so badly for every human being to be part of his family.

But it will be each individual's choice, ultimately. Revelation 19, verse 7. These saints of God, these firstfruits, will be those who attend the marriage of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It's described here in Revelation 19.7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be a raid and fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God.

Without God's instruction, without God's biblical view, without God's understanding about his design for humanity, we cannot truly desire, we cannot truly anticipate these times. Without understanding the role of the genders and marriage and family, as God has designed it, we would not really grasp. And even then, we're grasping because our minds are finite. But it's such a wonderful thing God is making. He has planned for us.

God, our Father, Jesus Christ, his Son, they have helped us, and they will keep helping us. They will help us to continue onward in our walk in light to ensure our ultimate birth and inclusion into the divine family of God. But we must be doing our part. We can read some of that, our part, Revelation 21, verse 7. A few pages over, Revelation 21, verse 7.

He who overcomes sin, overcomes temptation, overcomes the flesh, the devil, all. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son.

These are, in essence, the same instruction, the same hope expressed in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17 through 18.

2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 17 through 18.

Therefore come out from among them, come out from the world, they come out from that darkness we could understand. Therefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. If we remain ever faithful to God, we will overcome sin, not on our own, but through living faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. We will overcome sin, and we will endure to the end, and we will then inherit all things as God's children.

And so today, we've been confirming from Scripture God's design for humanity. God's plan has always been for humanity to become his literal sons and daughters. His design and creation of the sexes, genders, sexual morality, marriage, and family all point to his ultimate plan of expanding his own divine family. This is the true biblical view, and that itself is something very few yet know and understand.

But in time, all people will come to understand it. And so now, though the world vexes us and our families, though the world and its ideologies are sowing confusion, angst, despair, discouragement, and would even persecute us for standing true to our God in his word, we must hold fast to God's precious truths. What else can we do?

We know God. He has called us, and we love God, and we want to be part of his family. And so, as we read earlier, Ephesians 5 verse 8, For you were once darkness, we were once darkness, But now you we are light in the Lord, walk as children of light. And so now and always, brethren, let us walk as God's children of light.