Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, y'all. The first three episodes of the Redemption Hell Podcast are going to contain some heavier topic material. We wanted you to be aware of that, that not every podcast is going to be like this. But in light of the current season that we're in, the other elders, and I felt like these were necessary conversations for us to have. So we hope it's helpful and hope you enjoy the show.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to the RHC Podcast.
This is a podcast produced, broadcasted, and curated by Redemption Hill Church for Redemption Hill Church.
Why a podcast? So this podcast exists to provide the people of RHC and those outside the church a resource designed to cultivate in us a greater love for God, His Word, and those around us. And secondarily, we also want this podcast to be able to equip you, the people, and the members of RHC as followers of Jesus to think about everyday life from a biblical worldview.
So I have two of the pastors of Redemption Hill Church with me.
Pastor Sean, Pastor Brad.
Great to have you guys with us.
This is exciting. First episode, I thought that we could start off with just an icebreaker question. You guys don't know what this question is? Here it is.
What is your go to karaoke song?
Ooh, wow, you're at karaoke.
We did carry it's your turn Christmas.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Party last year, and I don't remember what I did.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: You did.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: You know what I want to say. I don't remember if it was me that did it. I think it was, but this is the first thing that comes to mind, and it's the Little Mermaid song.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Which one?
[00:02:05] Speaker C: The Little Mermaid song Under the sea.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Could you do it for us now?
[00:02:11] Speaker C: No. That's about as much as I would do under the sea.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: That was great. It's a good choice.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: I love it. I love it.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: The first song that came to mind was Bye bye, bye bye NSync.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: You've karaoke that before?
[00:02:24] Speaker A: I think I probably have. I saw NSYNC live when I was in sixth grade at the Frank Irwin center in Austin, Texas.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: It's amazing. It's an amazing show.
I would probably do that one.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: I do a lot of karaoke, but one of my favorite times was me and one of my really close friends did Enter Sandman by Metallica, and we, like, did the, you know, the long intro. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: I think what all of RHC is wondering is, have you ever done karaoke as Donald Trump?
[00:02:59] Speaker B: I've never done Trump karaoke yet.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Would you do it now?
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Well, we could sing the song Don't Stop Believing. That's the most American song you could possibly sing.
Don't Stop Believing. That's the lyrics. Don't Stop believing. And we're gonna believe really big.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: So I got one. One more for you, Taylor. I know you're the emcee, but for those of you who cannot see our little attempt at a studio here, we do have Braden Couch here with us today, who's mixing and doing all the stuff behind the scenes that needs to be done. Could you do a. Could you do a Braden Couch impersonation for the people of rhc?
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Braden Couch.
Braden's like, Brad. Braden just has that great Tennessee accent. And he's like, dude, I don't know, dude.
I kind of love it, but I also kind of hate it at the same time.
So it's. It's.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: It's.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Whatever, dude.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: It's weird. It's weird, dude. It's just. It's.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: We're not. We're not going to do it.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: We could just spend the next 30 minutes doing, like, what would Braden say if I said this band? Or, you know, whatever.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Shout out, Braden, man. He worked really hard on this. We appreciate you. Okay, we're going to jump into our first topic of the day.
Our first topic for this episode is something light. Low hanging. Fruit.
Kidding. We are going to be talking about the topic of sexuality. So there's a lot of ground to cover on this particular topic.
But before we jump in, Pastor Sean, I thought it'd be helpful on this topic if you could just help frame some things for us on how we might think through a biblical worldview of sexuality.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I think just two things that kind of set, you know, set kind of a framework or just to kind of overview thoughts. One, I think like many moral issues of our day, issues regarding marriage, sex, homosexuality, transgenderism, et cetera are heavily politicized. However, our claim is going to be that these issues are first and foremost moral issues above political issues.
All of these issues are grounded in creation, or as many throughout history have referred to it, as grounded in natural law.
And this means that God created and designed humanity to operate and thrive in a particular way regarding marriage, sex, and sexuality. And it's in light of this creative intent by God that he has much to say about it in his word. And then two, our desire to engage on these issues is first, out of a desire to be faithful to our God and what he has revealed is good and true. And then second, we love the church and we desire to see the church grounded firmly in God's truth. Despite the winds and waves of falsehood that rage in our culture. And then just lastly, we love all people created in God's image, and that's every single human being. And we believe that what God says is good and right is what is good and right for people.
And this is incredibly important as we move into this discussion. As we seek as a church to stand firm on the truth, it's not from a place of just wanting to be correct, but because we know the truth is what brings God glory, and it's what is best for people. And we want to know the truth so that we can worship God in truth and so that we can genuinely and deeply love others, particularly those with whom we disagree.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah, so that was a really helpful. Just kind of introduction on this topic.
Pastor Brad, where do you think the. Just kind of putting it more into gear. Where do you think the best place to start is when we talk about issues of sexuality?
[00:07:16] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, we had some of these conversations over the last few days in preparation for this. And I think, you know, really, really what we want just to give kind of a holistic vision statement, so to speak, of the podcast in general, is we just want to help further equip you to love God, to love his Word, to submit all of life to his Word, and to love people.
And these particular issues, sexuality, for instance, today, I mean, these are, as Sean said, just some of the most hot topic pressing issues. We don't want to shy away from these things. So if you were there on Sunday, you know, we talked about the need to get our head out of the sand, but also to get it above the clouds, meaning that we want to engage in the public square. Because these are, as Sean just said, like, these are moral issues. These are not primarily political issues. They've been politicized, but these are issues that the Bible speaks directly into.
But as followers of Jesus, we certainly don't put our hope in legislation or in politicians like we put our hope in Jesus alone. So I think for us, for the sake of time, maybe the most helpful place to start would be to define marriage.
What is marriage?
Why did God create marriage? What is sex? Why did God create sex? And then maybe end our time in talking about sexual immorality. So I think understanding what marriage is, what it means to be a human being, and we're going to get into the gender conversation as well.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: And in the next episode.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: In the next episode. Yeah. And why God created sex will lead into. Okay, what then does it mean to miss the mark of God's beautiful. Good design for those things.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: That's good. Yeah. And I think just real quick, before we go into those questions, I think it is a sobering thing, this particular topic in our day, because if we look out at the church as a whole, it is a. I don't want to say scary. I know God is in control and I'm confident that he's going to keep his church, of course. But this is a issue that is dividing churches all over the place. And so we want Redemption Hill to be grounded in God's word. We're not above the possibility of moving into error. And so we want ourselves and the church to be grounded in what God says is true.
And we want to do so from a position and disposition of heart that desires people to know God, to love God, to have people that are eaten up by these ideologies come into the church so that we can share the good news of Jesus with them.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: So as we think about sexuality and particularly marriage, where do we go biblically first, perhaps to just kind of lay a groundwork for a biblical theological worldview of marriage?
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we go to Genesis chapter one.
So, you know, the first statement of the Bible, if believed, will change. I believe everything about our life and speaks directly into the day and age in which we live, which is just. It's very much like an air of expressive individualism.
It's, I am the Lord of my life, and I determine what's true and what's not and what's right and what's wrong. But the first statement of the Bible is, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God is the creator, we are the creation. And as you read through Genesis chapter one, you get to verses 27 through 31. And many of you know these verses, but I think it's necessary for a framework. So God created man.
God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him. Male and female. He created them.
So you get both humanity view of that, of what does it mean to be human. You also get the biblical definition of gender and sex. And God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:31 says, and God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And when you get into Genesis chapter two, you get that beautiful poem from Adam. This is at last when he's looking at Eve. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.
The first thing that God says in all of his good creation that isn't good is that man is alone. And so he creates a helper, Eve, a woman suitable for him, brings them together in the first marriage covenant, calls them to produce godly offspring, and then says that it's very good.
So I think we have to start with our foundation there.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Yeah. And that is what Jesus goes back to as well. When this conversation comes up about divorce in Matthew 19, he takes it back to creation and solidifying that marriage is rooted in creation. In Matthew 19, he says, I'm just going to read a small portion of it. He says, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. And so I think Jesus as well is clearly rooting this reality of marriage back to creation.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we know from Ephesians 5. So if you fast forward to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul gives this amazing picture of what the ultimate purpose behind marriage was, is not just to bring together one man and one woman, not just to procreate, not just for their joy, though all of those things are true, but ultimately to display the relationship that he has with his people between Christ and the church. So this is a quote that I found that I thought was helpful from Desiring God. It says that God designed marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman for their mutual joy, the good of society, and the procreation of children.
Marriage ultimately displays the glory and grace of God by picturing the unbreakable relationship between Christ and his church. So marriage is so much bigger than just us, but serves all of these purposes. But I think to your point, Taylor, like getting back to the foundational question of when talking about sexuality, gender, all these things, where do we start? I think we have to start there with what is marriage as defined by God?
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Yeah. And it kind of leads into a question of once you establish marriage, then it's like, okay, what is sex? Because it's hard to talk about sexuality without talking about sex. Right. And you know, the Bible obviously has a lot to say about sex, but what are some?
I know that for many of us have a wide ranging relationships with the concept of sex.
And so, Pastor Brad, you talked about kind of have in our conversations in the past that the culture and Christians often see sex as one of three different ways. And maybe you could unpack that a little bit for us.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I found this paradigm really helpful for me personally. And the paradigm is this, that we typically view sex as either God, gift or gross.
So it's pretty easy to look out at our culture, specifically the cultural moment in which we're in. By which our sexual desires are intrinsically tied to who we are as people, to our identity, worth, value. We'll get into that a little bit later. But that's viewing sex as God. I mean, that's seeing this act of sex as something that is not only intrinsically tied to who we are as people, to our identity, our worth and value and so forth, but it's functioning as if we will die if we do not have sexual release.
And it's just not true. So Jesus lived 33 years, never had sex. Most full, perfect human being who's ever lived, who will ever live. Right. So it's the worship of sex that makes it God. And that's very much what we see, I think, in our culture. And then the second is gross. And I was sharing with you guys, this was somewhat of my experience. Not having grown up in the church, though I do see this a lot with folks who have grown up in the church and maybe grew up under a purity culture mindset, which wasn't all bad, by the way. I don't think. I think there are a lot of good things out of that. But one of the negative repercussions could be that when a couple does get married, a man and a woman do get married and begin to have sex, it's difficult to enjoy because they've always thought or maybe even been told in some really unhealthy circumstances that sex is bad until.
But now all of a sudden, that you're married, it's good and you should enjoy it. And so it could be viewed as gross. Or people who have experienced sexual abuse of various kinds and just feel gross, they don't feel clean. And they carry that sexual brokenness into the marriage relationship, are not able to enjoy it for what it is. And so the third category, which is the biblical one, is that sex is a gift, that sex is good, that it was created by God in Genesis 1. That after God told Adam and Eve to come together and to solidify their oneness in marriage through the act of sex, that he said it was very good.
And so that's obviously the one that by God's grace, Jesus redeems us into that that we want to function within. Sex is not God. Sex is not gross. It's A gift to be enjoyed in marriage.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: Yeah. A gift in the right context.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:40] Speaker C: And in believing that and understanding what the Bible says about that there's implications of sex outside of that context is destructive for humanity, for people. And of course we see that it doesn't take a lot to identify that reality, but I think that's helpful. And just in regards to the purity culture thing, I didn't grow up in the church either, so it wasn't part of my upbring. But I think, like you mentioned, not all that was bad. The reality of being pure before marriage is an amazing godly thing. And both myself and you can testify to the extreme damage of sex is God, like you said. I think the issue with that was not that they were focusing on purity, but that they weren't discussing sex as a gift in the right context. And so we want to be able to, to have those conversations and navigate that as a church and lots of little kids. Right. That's going to be discussions for parents to have on when's it appropriate to do that. But not making it something that's like this terrible, scary thing, but that it's a gift in the right context.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah, that's helpful. That's helpful.
So outside of the covenant of marriage, sex becomes sexual immorality. Right.
I think that there's.
The Greek word for it is porneia, where we get the word pornography.
So maybe we should talk a little bit now that we've kind of established the parameters for sex and sexuality.
What is sexual immorality and why? Why is it a big deal in the scriptures? Why is it something that we see over and over again in the New Testament, the apostles and Jesus warning against the dangers of sexual immorality?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think the easiest way to think about it is sexual immorality in the Bible is very broad and essentially refers to any sexual activity outside monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. And so sexual immorality would cover a lot of different things.
And this kind of gets to why the issues in our day are really important, significant issues of our generation, because they do come back to the reality of sexual immorality. And the Bible is super clear on the dangers of sexual immorality to the point of making it an issue of if you embrace sexual immorality, not that if you don't struggle with it, you're not fighting against it. But as a Christian, if you embrace sexual immorality as part of your life or as something that is good, when God says that it is not good, the Bible has very strong language for that individual. And so for me, this is why there's such a burden for this. And when I hear about churches moving in the direction of embracing something that the Bible says is sexually immoral, it's a dangerous and weighty thing. And so I can just read a couple passages and then Brad, you can elaborate or clarify anything.
So I didn't write the text reference.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Read it.
[00:21:23] Speaker C: I'm just going to read it.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: It's in the Bible.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: It's in the Bible, I promise.
I'm pretty sure this is from Galatians 5. Okay, okay. So Paul says, now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. So he just laid out a bunch of different things, many of them relating to sexual immorality. And he says, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So this is not a secondary issue if we embrace a lifestyle of sexual immorality. What Paul is saying is that you are outside of the kingdom of God. And so when we have these issues that, and really for the first time in the church are becoming mainstream almost within the church, it's really weighty because Paul has strong language to say against those who practice sexual immorality. And again, just to clarify real quick, this is not saying that Christians are sexually pure at all times. We struggle with sin, we struggle with lust, but we're fighting against it. We acknowledge it as sin, and we are fighting by God's grace to put that sin to death, as the Bible calls us to. We're not saying what the Bible says is sexually immoral is good and right. And we should embrace it. We should. Even if you don't live in that lifestyle, you are embracing it as good. That is putting it in the category of being very against what the Bible is saying, let's put it that way.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's good, man. Yeah, Yeah. I had this conversation with a, I was teaching at a staff get together at another church recently and just, you know, kind of posing the question of like, what sin does the New Testament seem to talk about more than any other sin? And it's sexual immorality. And so I think all of what you said, brother, is super helpful, you know, to go maybe even a step deeper into that is like, why, why? Why is sexual immorality such a big deal to God? And you hit on some of those things, I think, again, maybe a, maybe a miss by some of, you know, previous generations conversations or teachings around sex is don't have sex, it's bad, Right? Like, don't have sex before marriage is bad. Nobody would have said the former, but don't have sex before marriage, it's bad kind of a thing.
But, you know, the Bible goes so much deeper than that. This quote says the most powerful weapon against sexual impurity is humility.
Patterns of sinful thought and behavior are fruits of a deeper root. If we want to stop bearing bad fruit, we must aim our primary attack against the root. And the root of sexual sin is not our sex drive, it's pride.
So there's always something deeper than the sexual activity in and of itself. I mean, as we defined earlier, God created sex as a gift and as a declaration of the oneness between man and woman, which is intended to foreshadow or highlight the oneness God has with his people.
And so it's a deeply. It's not merely a physical act. It's a deeply spiritual thing. It's a holy thing that happens between a husband and a wife in marriage.
[00:24:54] Speaker C: Yeah. And how would you, just to clarify, how would that be pride?
Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Yeah, like, how would sexual immorality be pride? Yeah, I mean, I think I understand.
[00:25:03] Speaker C: What you're saying, but just to clarify.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Yep. So maybe one example could be.
And I think, I think this comes from Sam Albury's book why Does God Care who I Sleep with, which is a super helpful book, is, you know, he talks about the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus saying, you know, you know, you're not supposed to commit adultery, but I say that even if you, even if you lust in your heart, you've committed adultery in your heart. And just highlighting the reality that Jesus cares deeply about the person that you and I are lusting over, looking at. And part of what we're doing in the viewing of pornography or lusting after a person is using that person. We're using that person for our own gratification, our own personal pleasure. We're not thinking about them, rightly, not seeing them as God sees them. And so, you know, we've said this about pornography before God. Jesus cares deeply about the people on the screen that you're watching and that you're lusting over. And he cares deeply about you, and those people have value to him.
And so that issue of pride is, I want what I want when I want it, and I believe I deserve it.
[00:26:17] Speaker C: Yeah. And so, yeah, I think I. To me. And that's helpful clarity. I think there's an envy aspect of it as well, like wanting what you don't have.
And the pride. Another piece of the pride component is I know that God says this very clearly in his word, but what I say is good and right, or what I desire is better.
And in that pride, I'm saying, no, I'm going to do what I want to do.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: When Paul talks in. I think it's 1 Corinthians 7 about, you know, when we have sex or we engage in any sexual activity with a person who is not our spouse, it's like we are joining ourselves together with that person.
And that, again, that kind of language is union language. And so it just highlights, you know, what this thing was intended to be and how in our sin, we have distorted something very holy. So it's a much deeper thing than just God doesn't like it, don't do it. Right.
But to bring up your point, Sean, like the Galatians text, and you might have said this or will say it, but this is a man. This is a heaven and hell thing as well. I think when we think about the.
The reality that the New Testament, time and time again, not just in Galatians 5, but in. I think it's 2 Corinthians 4, 5, when Paul outlines all of these various forms of sin, sexual immorality is one of those. Pride, idolatry, homosexuality. And then he goes on and he says, these will not inherit the kingdom of God.
I mean, and so it's weighty. It is a very weighty thing. Yeah. But then he says, and such were some of you, but you were washed and you were cleansed. And.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: Yeah, that's why I think it's just so. It's so important for us, as we're having this conversation, to clarify the. I don't want. I hesitate to use the word nuance because it's so clear, but I think some people might be inclined to think, well, gosh, I'm sexually impure.
We're talking about issues when we talk about homosexuality, transgenderism, these things that would be classified under the category of sexual immorality. Biblically, we're talking about embracing these as ideologies, saying that these are good and right. When the Bible says it is sinful and wicked and you will not inherit the kingdom of God. There's a difference between struggling with something and having a desire that, you know is not good and fighting that and struggling with it and giving yourself over to it, whether in the act of doing it and embracing it or in approving of it, even if you don't struggle with homosexuality, but you're approving it.
I think the point we're trying to make is that's a very dangerous position you're pitting yourself against. What God says is good and right, and Paul has strong language for that. So we're just. I think what we're trying to say gently but firmly, is consider what the Bible says about it and humble yourself beneath that. And again, this podcast is for the church. I would love to have other conversations that aren't.
Obviously, people that aren't Christians aren't going to consider the Bible the authority. I think we would also argue that it's good for humanity. It's not just a matter of. This is just for Christians and everybody else can do what they want.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:57] Speaker C: It's good for society. It's good for the flourishing of humanity as well.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: And maybe you guys could speak to.
As we're wrapping up here, just, we all have.
Most, all of us would say we have sexual desires of some sort, whether they're heterosexual desires, homosexual desires, and, you know, we feel the weightiness of those passages that you guys just read. There's other passages that. That doesn't even scratch the surface of it. Right. We didn't talk about Romans 1 or Paul says in Ephesians, not even a hint of sexual immorality should be named among you. You know, like that's. That's very, very weighty. And so it can feel like, okay, how. How do I channel some of these impure sexual desires for God's glory and maybe repent or turn to Jesus in a way that I'm surrendering these things to him?
[00:31:08] Speaker C: Yeah, that's good. I'll take a crack at it and you can close this out.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:31:12] Speaker C: So I think first, what I would want to say is to the non Christian, you, let's say, let's just use a hypothetical.
Somebody that homosexual, not a Christian.
Your biggest issue is not your homosexuality. Your biggest issue is that you are a sinner. Whether you're a homosexual or not, you are a sinner by birth and under God's wrath. And so what you need is not to become a heterosexual. What you need is forgiveness of sin. And that can be found only through Jesus Christ, through his perfect life. His death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Putting your faith in him brings forgiveness of sin. And then by God's grace, through the power of his spirit, that All Christians have. We then put to death the deeds of the flesh throughout the rest of our life. And so I think it's important when we're talking about sexuality, we're not.
Our goal here is to not just make a bunch of monogamous heterosexuals.
The goal is for Christ to be lifted high, for people to come to know him and by his Spirit to be conformed into what God says is good and right. And so people who are outside the church, what they need to do is not become heterosexuals. They need to repent of their sin and trust in Christ. And then for those who are in the church who are Christians, this applies to a variety of different sins, but we're talking about sexuality. So let's just keep on the homosexual hypothetical.
If that is you. The first thing to be reminded of every single day, over and over again is in Christ. Romans 8, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Your struggle feels unique, and it is unique in some regards. And just like some of my struggles are unique if we were to compare them to somebody else. But the reality is we all as Christians are struggling with sin. And the goal every day is by God's grace, to put to death the deeds of the flesh every single day of our life. And we each have our own unique. And I don't. Unique is probably not even the right word. But we all have our tendencies to a certain sin.
And the call to the Christian is not to sit in that, but by God's grace, put that to death every day. And so I think the last thing I would just want to say is that there is. I feel like in my conversations with people, particularly around this, there can be a defeatist type mentality. And I understand that. I think we've all in some sense felt that. But I think in this particular issue, it's even more palpable because it feels like it's part of you.
In this particular issue of sexuality, it's part of who you are. And I think what we have to be reminded of over and over again is that in Christ, having these desires is not part of who you are, it's part of how you feel. And there's the identity in Christ that is your identity. You are not a gay Christian. You are somebody who is in Christ who struggles with same sex attraction, just like me. As somebody who does not, I am a Christian who struggles with a lustful heart.
And the identity in Christ is so crucial because that's what we bank on every day. And that's the foundation that we stand on and why. We can say every day we wake up by God's grace and mercy every day and seek to put that sin to death. But we have to be saturated in the reality of where our identity is. And we can talk. We're going to talk about this more in the next episode. But the issue of identity when it comes to sexuality is so crucial that I think really getting grounded in who you are in Christ is foundational. If you struggle with these sexual sins.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Really well said. I don't know how much I have to add to that. I would just.
Man, that's so good. I would say two things come to mind. And there's so many things we could say, strategic ways to combat those desires and living a life of repentance. All of that is absolutely key and necessary. Like Luther said, all of the Christian life is one of repentance. And so we need to stop viewing repentance if we do in a negative way. View repentance as a beautiful gift of God's grace by which the Spirit of God is not. He is not. The gospel is complete. It's not just that Christ has forgiven us from the penalty of sin like he has, as Sean said, he's transferred us from one kingdom to another, from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light. And now that we're in him and have his spirit, we have the power to not be enslaved to that which used to bring us death. So it's holistically good news. The two things that come to mind for a person struggling with those with sexual desires, sexually impure desires, as Sean said, I mean, we all do in various degrees. Those of us who are married, those of us who are not, is remembering the heart of Jesus. So I go back time and again to Mark, chapter one that tells the story of the leper coming to Jesus. And it says a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying, if you are willing, you can make me clean. And I do think often we feel that way toward the Lord Jesus. Like, if you're willing, like, I don't know that you're willing anymore because of these internal sins that I still have. I'm trying, I'm fighting, I'm waging war, and I don't know if you're willing. And it says, then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I am willing be clean.
As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And so you just get so much in there about the heart of Jesus toward real sinners like us.
No sin is too great for him to forgive and cleanse and free us from. And his willingness, like his heart is willing.
He's not on the other side of our fight with sin, waiting on us to beat it and then get to him. Like he's with us in the fight. He's the one empowering us in the fight. He's for us in that.
So I would just encourage that. I would say remember and meditate on the heart of Jesus if you are a Christian in Christ, that this is his heart toward you in the midst of your struggle with these desires.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Really helpful, brothers. Thank you for your courage and clarity and the desire to speak the truth in love. I think that that benefits all of us when you do so. This has been episode one of the RHC Podcast in the books.
Join us for episode two. We're going to be talking about gender identity, transgenderism, and also helping you guys with some real life on the ground issues of how do we take this biblical worldview and work it out in real time where the Lord has sent and placed you. So thanks for listening and join us next time on the RHC Podcast.
