Foundations of Truth

Guest (Male): You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's word. Rooted in scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, each week Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to bring clarity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life.

Today on Foundations of Truth, we continue the series Divine Design with part one of the message, A Better Future. Here now is Dr. Timothy Mann.

Dr. Timothy Mann: Romans chapter eight, verse 18, the Bible says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 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 redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." And we'll stop here. This is God's word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever.

A 2016 issue of Time Magazine featured an essay by Jesse Hempel, telling the heart-wrenching story of her brother Evan giving birth to a son. Now, that sentence might catch you off guard. If it didn't, I'll say it again slowly. A 2016 issue of Time Magazine featured an essay of Jesse Hempel, telling the heart-wrenching story of her brother Evan giving birth to a son. The photo the story features shows what looks like a man breastfeeding an infant son.

Titled "My Brother’s Pregnancy and the Making of a New American Family," Hempel recounts how her sister underwent a male-to-female transition at age 19 but still desired to give birth and did so at age 35. She describes that long-ago transition that included testosterone injections daily, producing thick hair over her sister's knuckles. At that time, Evan elected not to have breast removal surgery, thus making it possible for what is called in that community "chestfeeding."

Now, the story is not without several painful admissions. Recounting how they once looked alike, Hempel laments the loss of her sister's feminine appearance. At one point, Hempel observes that Evan, while pregnant, experienced a traumatizing disconnect between his masculinity and the female attributes of his body. She asks a question in the article that really frames how Christians should begin to think about these issues.

She writes, "What if you were born into a female body, know or at least perceive that you are a man, and still want to participate in the traditionally exclusive rite of motherhood? What kind of man are you then?" I believe that question touches on a pursuit that every person knows, and that is the search for resolution and satisfaction for a life of stability without heartache or alienation or disconnect.

It's understandable that Evan would assume that it's only by following our feelings that we can find this. Understandable, but very incorrect as Evan, according to Jesse's article, discovered through personal experience. As she wants to be called, Evan found in life what we saw a few sermons ago, and it's this: you don't break free from the effects of the fall of man and the curse of sin by following the path of the fall and curse of sin in your own life and in your own decisions. You don't break free that way.

Is there hope for individuals like Evan? Can those who face the same kind of struggles find wholeness and experience psychological relief, bodily relief, and emotional relief? Given the reality of the fall and the curse, is there good news for us? Regardless of what brokenness each person experiences and regardless of what identities we embrace, is there good news for us?

I would say to you what God's word says. Yes, there is. The Bible's message to the person struggling with gender identity issues, same-sex sexual attraction issues, is the same for the person struggling with envy or depression or anything else. And that is according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things become new." Here is the offer that God holds out to every single one of us. This is it. This is the offer that he holds out to every single one of you. You can be a new creation.

Now, to become a new creation in Christ does not mean that the world we live in, or the bodies we inhabit, or the minds we think with will be totally freed or completely healed in this world. It doesn't mean that. To be a new creation in Christ is to experience the promises of what fully awaits those who have placed their trust in him. To be a new creation in Christ means to be able to anticipate the certainty of a coming day when the disorder of creation is put back together, when dysphoria of any kind is replaced with euphoria of every kind.

To be a new creation is to know why the world is the way it is. To be a new creation is to know why our bodies are the way they are and why our minds think as they do. To be a new creation in Christ is to be equipped with the power of God's Holy Spirit to live in a right relationship with God. That's what it means to be a new creation. A new creation in Christ recognizes that even with broken minds living in broken bodies living in a broken world, that there is a definitive and clear very good blueprint of creation.

A new creation in Christ has ceased to belong to this old fallen world even as they live in it, for they are walking toward the fullness of a renewed, re-perfected world. The fall of man, the disobeying of God's commands, and the curse of sin affects our hearts, it affects our minds, and it affects our bodies. We live in a broken creation marred by sin. But wonderfully, praise God, this is not the final state of this world that we just read about a few minutes ago in Romans chapter eight.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Foundations of Truth. Our program is made possible through faithful listeners like you who believe biblical truth should be proclaimed clearly, compassionately, and without apology. Your prayers encourage this ministry, and your financial partnership helps bring sound biblical teaching to thousands of listeners through radio, podcasts, and digital outreach. If the Lord is using this ministry in your life, would you prayerfully consider supporting our work? You can give a gift securely online at foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Now, let's return to today's message, part one of A Better Future. Here's Dr. Timothy Mann.

Dr. Timothy Mann: I want us to focus on that word redemption. Look at 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 redemption of our body." Your body's not redeemed. Waiting for the redemption of our body. Now, that word redemption, a simple definition, means the act of being set free. Redemption means the act of being set free. It's a release from the bondage of corruption, as it says in verse 21.

So, as he writes to those who are new creations living in this broken creation, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, did not pit or place suffering and redemption against one another in some sort of total contrast. He did not do that. They are experienced simultaneously. Suffering and redemption are experienced simultaneously because redemption is an eternal promise that is broken into the present but is not yet fulfilled in the present.

A Christian is free to look beyond all that makes them groan, but right now they are not free from what makes them groan. Now, there are several truths in this passage of great significance. We are in this series Divine Design, dealing with gender, sexuality, marriage in the Bible, and other issues related to that. So, there are several truths in this passage of great significance for someone who experiences gender dysphoria, same-sex sexual attraction, or for any other painful thing we all experience.

First of all, this passage that we read reminds us that the world around us groans. The world around us groans. And so this sense of trauma, this sense of alienation, this sense of discomfort that results from any kind of dysphoria has an explanation. And the biblical explanation is this: a world under sin’s curse. That's the explanation. We live in a world under sin’s curse. That's the first thing this passage teaches us: that the world around us groans.

The second truth that this passage teaches us is that we ourselves groan. We ourselves groan. Now, the Bible is narrowing its focus here. It isn't just this abstract idea of creation is groaning, but we all are subject, even Christians. We all are subject to groaning because not all is well within us or around us.

The third truth though that this passage teaches us, assures us of, is that we're assured as followers of Jesus that our groans are not forever. They are not eternal. Both God's creation and everyone who is a new creation—that's only those who are in Christ—are heading toward ultimate hope and ultimate glory. There is a way to groan with hope because one day we'll all be set free. We await the redemption of our bodies at the moment when all of creation is set free from its bondage to corruption and everything is put right.

There is a way back to Eden. There is a way back to the perfect world. That's not where creation is now, but that is where creation is heading. The arc of history, ladies and gentlemen, bends toward hope. Now, we've been discussing gender dysphoria, what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, and both of those issues have pain, anguish, and tears related to them. Often, it is a deep, painful struggle. But those are not the only struggle. The whole world struggles. The whole world.

And if you say you don't, you're a liar. You struggle in here, you struggle in here. You doubt God's goodness at times. You seek to push him off his throne and you run your life your way. We all struggle. The whole world cries out one way or another, and sometimes in many ways. But the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that those groans have been heard and those groans need not last.

As adopted sons and daughters of God, our gnawing sense of despair about the world and about ourselves is met with a promise that someday, thank God someday, God is going to renew creation. That's the promise. So, not only will the feelings of dysphoria be removed, but all the conditions that give rise to dysphoria in the first first place will be eradicated as well. Now, the gospel does not promise that any of us will experience this freedom, this sense of wholeness and rightness completely right now. It doesn't promise that.

We are waiting. Which means a person with dysphoria—which by the way, if you don't know what that term means, it's the opposite of euphoria. Dysphoria is a state of unease. It's a state of restlessness. It's a state of anxiousness or even depression. So, we're waiting, which means the person with dysphoria may never know a life apart from dysphoria until God restores creation. They may not know it until Christ brings them to heaven or returns to bring heaven to earth.

But they will know it. So, the Bible acknowledges how things are, even in the deepest, darkest moments. But it also promises that we need not be left there. God's word teaches us to groan, but to groan with hope. To acknowledge the brokenness and to cling to the escape from the brokenness that God has provided. And though the brokenness does not stop as soon as we let our groans lead us to faith in Jesus, but the Spirit of God does start to make a difference. If you're truly saved, if you become a new creation in Christ, the Spirit of God does start to make a difference to the way we live with and even think about the brokenness.

One way that he does, the Spirit of God, is to begin to bring clarity to our minds. Romans chapter eight, look at verses five and six. It says this: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." That is to say, they set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Verse six, "For to be carnally minded," that is fleshly minded, "is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

So, the term "the flesh" here is a way of describing the way this world works, in which we focus on the desires we experience and live them out. That's living according to the flesh. That's thinking according to the flesh. "This is my desire, I'm going to focus on it and I'm going to live it out." Faith in Christ offers a different way. A completely different way.

To experience God's Spirit actually enabling us to live with our minds set on his things, to live with our minds set on his truth, to live with our minds set on his discernment and on his wisdom. In other words, our thinking is no longer stuck in the grooves of a fallen mind. So, for instance, look back over at verses 22 and 23. "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, we also know that we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

The Spirit, in bringing clarity to our minds, enables us to know the predicament that creation and humanity are in. It is he, the Spirit of God, who helps us to think, "I am groaning, but I'm also waiting for a time when I will no longer groan." That's how he helps us to think. He teaches us to view our bodies as broken but valuable. He also teaches us to view our lives and our bodies as part of a blueprint that we did not draw, that you don't have the right to change.

The Spirit helps us to see what is true and that what is true is good. Knowing that it's true and knowing that it's good, he helps us to see that even as our feelings or our flesh tells us something different. Now, in some ways, having our minds set by the Spirit can actually make things harder for the Christian because it awakens us to the reality that we're engaged in a spiritual battle.

I mean, let's be honest. Think about it. If I could just indulge my lust rather than battling it, life would be easier. I mean, if I could just vent my anger all the time rather than seeking to combat it with patience and compassion and love, life would be less tiring. But it would also be less satisfying than living in line with God's plan. And so, with this renewed mind, it becomes possible to rightly evaluate our own feelings and rightly evaluate the opinions of the culture.

Romans 12, verse 2, and this is a command, by the way. It's not an option, it's not a suggestion, it's not a "if you feel like it or if you get around to it." This is a command. Christian, are you listening? This is a command. Verse 2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Our mind has to be renewed all the time.

And so what happens here is how the Spirit of God works in our mind. God actually reorders how we reason. He reorders our logic if we're having our mind renewed by the Spirit through the word. He reorders our reason. No longer will someone fall prey to the idea that it might just be possible for a Caucasian man to become a Chinese woman. Why? Because that's insanity. It's not possible. He changes your mind, he renews your mind.

And as well as renewing our minds, the Spirit changes our hearts. Your inner man. Six centuries before the life and death and resurrection of his son Jesus, God promised that he would change our hearts as a result of the coming of his son. Ezekiel 36, verse 26 and 27, this is his promise. He says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them."

This is God's promise about what happens when someone truly becomes a Christian. Not about what happens sometime later on at some stage after you become a Christian. This is what happens when a person becomes a Christian. A heart of stone in this passage is describing the heart that most loves something other than God. Hard toward God, loves something else much more than it loves God. A heart of flesh is one that is alive to God, which loves God, and in which therefore obeys God.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. If you'd like to hear this message again and to receive additional biblical resources and to support this ministry, visit us online, foundationsoftruth.net. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.