Objections to Sexual Identity, Part 1

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin reviews the previous weeks' studies, reiterating the biblical teaching on male and female equality in dignity and redemption, alongside divinely instituted…

Martin recalls the bra burning movement as a major indication of the feminist movement's determination to throw off symbols of subordination and modesty, illustrating cultural manifestations of rejecting God's order.

There are within every culture those external symbols of masculinity and femininity, of male headship and female subordination. And according to First Corinthians 11, and you remember we read through the passage and saw that all of these references to veil, covering of head, head shaven, head shorn, doth not nature itself teach you about long hair, short hair. Whatever the passage teaches, it is teaching that there are external visible symbols of this divinely instituted relationship. And it is not spiritual to ignore those symbols. In fact, Paul says it's shameful. And as we then were drawing...

9:04 - 10:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard your conscience against hardening to sin, as this can lead to accepting plausible feminist arguments to justify sin and becoming one of the 'perverse men' who draw others away.

The analogy of a good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep versus a hireling running from wolves is used to illustrate the courage required of elders to protect the flock from false teaching, contrasting it with 'gutless preachers'.

And what does a shepherd, do when he knows that? Well, a good shepherd, according to John chapter 10, will say to any wolf that is encircling the flock, Mr. Wolfman, you're going to get to one of my sheep over my dead body. You've got to get to me first and tear my flesh from my bones before you get to one of my sheep. Isn't that what Jesus said? A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It's the hireling who runs and says, man, wolves, wolf packs, fangs, that's dangerous business. Time for a vacation. Let the sheep fend for themselves.

16:50 - 17:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard your conscience against hardening to sin, as this can lead to accepting plausible feminist arguments to justify sin and becoming one of the 'perverse men' who draw others away.

The image of a 'dumb dog' watchman from Isaiah 56:10, who cannot bark when a prowler comes, illustrates the terrible indictment God brings upon unfaithful spiritual leaders who fail to warn against dangerous influences.

And it's biblical reputation. Look at this terrible indictment God brings upon the prophets of his day. Verse 10. His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. What a horrible point. What a horrible picture. Here's a man, puts out money, buys a watchdog, trains him, and lo and behold, the very night when the prowler comes, the dog is sound to sleep, and when he wakes up, he opens his mouth, but his vocal apparatus won't work. He's a dumb dog that cannot bark. And that's what God called the watchmen of ...

19:50 - 20:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Be well established in your biblical position so you are equipped to deal with specious arguments from within the Christian community.

Martin quotes (paraphrases) Dr. J. I. Packer's shift in position regarding women in ministry, using it as an example of 'objections from within' the Christian community that need to be addressed.

of the tremendous stature of a Dr. J. I. Packer has recently written, and though this is a paraphrase, I am properly representing him, that the onus is now upon those of us that he calls exclusionists.

24:13 - 24:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Be well established in your biblical position so you are equipped to deal with specious arguments from within the Christian community.

Martin mentions watching a public television program and videotaping an interview with a female Episcopal priest to ensure he is in touch with the real world and accurately representing objections to biblical teaching.

exhaustive list, but as I've tried to analyze the objections in the material that I've read, in what I observe and listen to, and I do try to subject myself to enough to be in touch with this real world. For example, there was recently a program on public television about women in the ministry. And I even videotaped it, so I could go back over it. And there was in that particular program an extensive interview with a young woman who has broken ground in an Episcopal church and become a Christian. And I've tried to subject myself to a female priest, and the interviewer asked her why it was that...

25:23 - 26:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Dare to tell an evolutionist that his whole system is a faith system, not purely scientific.

The metaphor of hanging a system of dating and assumptions 'on a sky hook' is used to illustrate the lack of scientific basis and the faith-based nature of evolutionary claims about millions of years.

talk about millions of years is a system of dating and assumptions all hung on a sky hook. When we did construction work and we didn't know where to put something, the boss would say, I'll go hang it on a sky hook. Well, of course, it's a kind of a sick joke. You can't hang anything on a sky hook. A hook has to have something. But you see, much of what the evolutionists work with, he hangs upon a sky hook. His system of dating hangs upon the sky hook that what he has observed within a period of X number of years has always been true, that one can trace the carbon in a given substance or the lo...

35:52 - 36:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: An extended analogy of a squirrel's freedom illustrates that true liberty is found in fulfilling one's created nature, not in attempting to be something else, like a bass or a…

An extended analogy of a squirrel's freedom in the Garden of Eden, contrasted with forcing it to swim like a bass, illustrates that true liberty is found in fulfilling one's created nature and purpose, not in attempting to be something else.

That's freedom. Freedom is being able to do and to be what you were created to do and to be, and that's freedom. And to do that with joy. What was freedom for the first squirrel that God made in the Garden of Eden?

48:59 - 49:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Find joy and delight in taking your position of subordination to men in the proper biblical categories (home, church, demeanor), recognizing it as your liberty and a way to glorify God.

Martin references a book titled 'Men of Steel and Velvet,' a term Carl Sandburg used for Abraham Lincoln, to describe the ideal of Christian manhood combining strength and gentleness, illustrating what a 'free man' looks like.

The title fascinated me. And I've been rooting around it. It's a book on Christian manhood, and the title of it is Men of Steel and Velvet. It was a term Carl Sandburg used of his great hero, Abraham Lincoln, said he was a man of steel and of velvet, and he deals with the qualities of steel in true masculinity, and the qualities of velvet.

53:48 - 54:12 Read in full sermon