Foundations of Truth
This is the podcast of Firm Foundations ministries. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's Word, rooted in Scripture and anchored in the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each episode is designed to strengthen your faith, deepen your understanding, and encourage you to stand firm in a shifting world.
Foundations of Truth
Divine Design: Beauty and Brokeness
What happens when paradise is lost? Pastor Mann continues the Divine Design series with a profound exploration of how the Fall in Genesis 3 shapes our understanding of gender, identity, and human brokenness.
The message begins where last week's ended—with Adam and Eve "naked and unashamed" in perfect harmony with each other and with God. But paradise didn't remain paradise. Through one act of rebellion—choosing their own authority over God's—Adam and Eve introduced catastrophic brokenness into creation. This wasn't merely an ancient slip-up; it's a pattern repeated in every human heart, including our own.
Pastor Mann compassionately addresses how this universal brokenness relates to modern questions about gender identity and sexuality. He makes a crucial distinction between experiencing difficult feelings and acting on them. While feelings of gender dysphoria represent real pain, they stem from living in a fallen world where our hearts, as Jeremiah warns, are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."
The sermon offers a powerful insight applicable to many struggles: "Not every impulse we experience should be indulged." Our hearts produce desires that often war against what's truly good for us. The question isn't whether our feelings are real—they certainly are—but whether following them leads to flourishing or further brokenness.
Pastor Mann challenges the modern notion that authenticating every feeling is the path to peace. Instead, he points to the Creator who designed us and knows what's best, offering the transformative question we all must answer: Will we continue as our own kings, or will we follow the crucified Creator who died to restore what sin has broken?
Whether you're personally wrestling with gender questions or simply seeking to understand these issues through a Biblical lens, this message provides thoughtful, compassionate guidance grounded in timeless truth.
Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Timothy Mann and Providence Church, ormond Beach, florida. Providence Church is a local assembly of followers of Jesus Christ dedicated to helping people become committed and mature followers of Jesus Christ. Today's message is from the Divine Design series on gender, sexuality, marriage and the Bible. Now here's Pastor Tim Mann with today's message.
Speaker 2:Now this series that we're in is called Divine Design, gender, sexuality, marriage and the Bible. We've already looked at why even address these issues and then how you arrive at the answer matters. Last week, we clearly saw the Creator's design and intention for men, for women, for marriage and for reproduction. We discussed that and for reproduction. We discussed that. And at the end of the message last week, we left Adam and Eve naked and unashamed. That's where we left them naked and unashamed. They were living in perfect harmony with one another and with God, and had the story ended there, wouldn't that have been great? Had the story ended there, wouldn't that have been great? Had the story ended there, the rest of the Bible would not have needed to have been written. But the story did not end in Genesis 2 with a happily ever after picture of Adam and Eve. Paradise didn't stay paradise. Paradise didn't stay paradise. Paradise didn't stay paradise.
Speaker 2:This story took a turn in the chapter of history that is often called the fall. That's what we just read the fall. Adam and Eve sinned. The creator had instructed Adam and Eve to not eat of just how many? One tree, Just one. Everything else was freely available, as much as they wanted. But Satan offered Eve a pathway of her own choosing, promising her pleasure and promising her enlightenment. Do you know that choice had a seductive power long before modern advertising companies were invented? The serpent what did he do? The serpent, what did he do? He cast the creator's rule as restrictive, unfair and downright petty. It was restrictive, unfair and downright petty. Look again at verse five. What did he say in verse five? He said for God knows. First of all, he lied. He said you will not surely die. Then he said for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so Eve ate from the tree that she was not instructed to eat from, gave it to her husband. He did as well. And of course, at that moment when Eve is eating that fruit, at that moment it did not seem like she was going down the wrong path, because why could denying someone the offer of pleasure and enlightenment be wrong? Eve had seen that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. And so her decision was a rational, reasonable calculation, supported by what her feelings were saying to her. I mean, how could it be wrong when it seemed good? How could it be wrong when it looked delightful? How could it be wrong when it seemed delightful? How could it be wrong when it seemed wise, especially when her husband agreed and he shared the fruit with her? Isn't that our story too? That's our story. I mean, we don't cast our decisions to reject what God says as the actions of rebels. We really just see ourselves as owners and masters of ourselves. What could be so wrong with that?
Speaker 2:This is the drama of Genesis 3. The casting off of God's rule, the casting off of the Creator's rule of His creation, that's the drama of Genesis 3. They cast off the role of being God's royal ambassadors assigned to rule over creation in relationship with Him, and instead they struck out on their own. They struck out on their own you can be like god in your own life. Satan told the first humans you can have the authority, you know what's best. You can. Can't trust God, but you can trust yourself. And the humans said yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Now, in reaching for that fruit that represented, as we've talked about a few weeks ago, that represented authority to rule, because Adam and Eve denied God's authority, they doubted God's knowledge and they disputed God's loving goodness. They would take up the mantle of their own authority. They would see their knowledge as perfect. They would trust wholly in themselves. They wanted to make up the rules for themselves and remold the world to fit a new narrative, one in which they sat on the throne of their lives and they decided what was right, and they decided what was wrong.
Speaker 2:And this was not an accidental slip-up. Yes, the serpent tempted Eve, no doubt. But this was not an accidental slip-up, because Eve's choice was the choice of an alternative lordship. That was her choice and that is why a seemingly innocent, solitary act of eating from the wrong tree put all of creation in a death spiral. That's why eating a fruit was an act of treason. It's an act of treason, but the Bible's account isn't left in past tense. It's in the present tense, because what happened in the garden of eden has made it all the way down to you and me.
Speaker 2:The bible says this in romans, chapter 3, quoting some verses from Romans 3,. The Bible says, as it is written there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God, there is none who does good. No, not one. There is no fear of God before their eyes. So Adam and Eve's story is my story.
Speaker 2:Adam and Eve's story is your story. Can we agree on that? See, we cannot stand in judgment over Adam and Eve. I mean, we can sit here and read it this morning and say what were you thinking? How many times can that be said of you? What were you thinking when you made that decision, when you opted for that choice? We can't stand in judgment over Adam and eve, since every day we choose at some moment in every day, we choose the same as they did, and that's to sit on the throne by seeking to force god off, even if it's in a moment during the day, during the day, and whoever you are this morning in this room, online, whoever you are, you cannot point a finger of self-righteous superiority. You cannot point a finger of self-righteous superiority at anyone who disagrees with you when it comes to the questions of gender identity or homosexuality, or any other thing for that matter. Why? Because we all inhabit a creation marred by sin and we all contribute to its brokenness by our own sinful choices. We all sin differently, but we all sin. This is our story In Genesis, chapter 3, it's a story that does not.
Speaker 2:It's a history. It's an account, historical account. It's not allegory, it's not a legend, it's not a myth. It's not allegory, it's not a legend, it's not a myth, it's not a fairy tale. It's history. But it's a history, a story that does not have a happy ending, because in chapter 3, verse 7, as soon as they had eaten the fruit, adam and Eve began to discover that their choice had not brought pleasure and enlightenment so much as it did shame, guilt and fear.
Speaker 2:Verse 7 says look at it. Verse 7, chapter 3 says Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. Now, remember, we had left them naked and unashamed. Now they're naked and afraid. Their eyes of both of them were open and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. One of the very first results of the first rejection of God is that people feel ashamed of and awkward about their bodies, and that is their first experience of living in a world that is now beautiful thanks to its creator, but broken thanks to their sin Right. This is their first experience, but by no means the only one nor the worst. Humanity was the high point of creation. We talked about that last week. Humanity was the high point of creation, so it shouldn't surprise us that their rebellion affected the whole creation.
Speaker 2:Again, look at Genesis, chapter 3, verses 17 through 19. 17 through 19. Then to Adam he said Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten up from the tree which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake. Or to put it this way because of you, because of you In toil, you shall eat of it All the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field In the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
Speaker 2:And so the picture here that the Bible paints of sin's effects over the world are catastrophic and comprehensive. To put it simply, creation is broken, creation is broken. The Garden of Eden was a place where work was work and yet fulfilling, because the earth would grow trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food and free to eat. It's a place full of thorns and thistles, where work is frustrating, hard and sometimes futile. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes are all the result of a world thrown into chaos by humanity. By humanity, we chose to assume God's throne. We chose to assume God's throne but, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot rule his creation. We can't do it. We can't rule his. Can I get a witness? Humans break. We are dust and we are frail and we are failing. Cancer, depression, eating disorders, heart disease, gender dysphoria and many other issues, and each of these painful realities testifies to the brokenness of creation. And and that's before we add the pain caused by moral failures, choices we choose to make, that that we deliberately make Humans break. Not only do humans break, humans die, humans die.
Speaker 2:According to the Bible, the penalty of sin is death. We just read it the penalty of sin is death. We shall return to the dust from which we were taken. And that reality overshadows our lives, giving us a sense of, at least from time to time, a sense of futility to all of our efforts. And that reality mocks all of our achievements and it mocks all of our accumulations, because humans die. And then, on top of that, we face an eternity outside of eden and eternity outside of Eden, outside the perfection of God's presence, separated from him forever. And this will be torment, and this is the worst consequences of our sin. We're broken actors living on a broken stage and we don't stand on that stage for very long.
Speaker 2:So now that I've got you cheered up to to think about gender dysphoria or transgenderism or homosexuality, or anything else for that matter, in a way that listens hard to God and listens humbly to God, we need to let Him, the Creator, tell us that this world is not how it was intended to be and why. We need to let him tell us that. And we need to understand that the effects of the fall are not only around us but also within us. And that's really hard to hear, but we need to hear it, and we need to understand it that the effects of the fall are within us. But it's also good to know that the fall, the brokenness doesn't praise God have to be the end of our story. It doesn't have to be the end of our story Now listen, the Bible says in 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 11.
Speaker 2:Because I want to talk about, just for a few minutes, what happened to our hearts. What happened to our hearts? 1 Peter 2, verse 11. You can mark that down and read it later.
Speaker 2:1 Peter 2, verse 11 says Beloved, I beg you, as a sojourner and pilgrims, now listen to abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul. To abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul. Now, in every heart there's a war and the heart? It's interesting. The heart is both the victim and the culprit. It's both why? Because every person's heart is inhabited by sinful desires and also produces sinful desires. There's an ongoing battle within the heart in which unhelpful and even sinful desires wage war on our conscience, against our soul bitterness, envy, anger, greed, lust. We cannot trust our feelings or all the passions that reside within us simply because we feel them. Our hearts are not pure, far from it. I've quoted this verse already in the last few weeks.
Speaker 2:But the bible says in jeremiah 17, verse 9 the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can know it? And so the nature of deception is to convince us that our hearts will not be satisfied unless we indulge what our hearts desires. And our hearts lead us astray in countless ways.
Speaker 2:Let's run with envy for a moment Envy. Envy robs people of joy and contentment. Envy sours friendships. Envy can lead to compromising morality in order to get ahead right. Envy does not produce flourishing or joy in people. So indulging Envy if you indulge envy, that only results in misery for yourself and misery for others. And what's interesting is very few of us actually think this way, as envy rages on. Because in the moment, in the moment, the wrath and the bitterness of envy appeases the sense of loss and jealousy residing within each of us. And so, if nothing else, let me just boil the message down to this statement we can say amen and go home. This is it, but I won't be done.
Speaker 2:Not every impulse we experience should be indulged. Not every impulse we experience should be indulged. We should be suspicious about listening to our hearts, and everybody knows this, everybody this. Prisons are full of people who acted in accord with their feelings and who have been told by society that they shouldn't. Every time a therapist, a counselor, tells a patient to view themselves more positively, what are they doing? They are accepting that there are feelings that are unhelpful to someone's fulfillment.
Speaker 2:Our hearts. Desires can be at war with what is actually good for our hearts, and so the real question is this which desires should be fed and which desires should be starved, which, by the way, is a biblical principle all throughout the New Testament which desires should be fed and which desires should be starved. Now you can say well, what does this even have to do with transgenderism, or even homosexuality, or even heterosexual sexual immorality? What does it have to do with that? What does it have to do with sex outside of marriage in general? Well, in the same way that fallen desires pervade the hearts of all of us let's talk about gender dysphoria, focusing on transgenderism in the same way that fallen desires pervade the hearts of all of us, individuals with gender dysphoria experience real feelings of distress about their gender identity. These are real experiences where the heart's desire is telling them one thing about themselves, while their body is saying something else.
Speaker 2:And so, ladies and gentlemen, we shouldn't just dismiss this or joke about it, because to feel this way is to experience a feeling, and many times real deep pain. A feeling and many times real deep pain. But experiencing that feeling does not mean that feeding it and acting upon it is best or is right. The impulse to live out an identity at odds with our biological sex is to indulge fallen desires that our hearts believe will bring peace. But internal longing for peace does not mean that finding peace is possible through breaking the boundaries of human limitations and rejecting the way each of us have been created by the. I mean it's a little reported fact that people who undergo sex reassignment surgery do not statistically report higher levels of happiness after surgery. That is to say, acting on the, acting on the desire to live as the opposite gender to the one that accords with your biological sex, does not bring peace to the heart. And that's consistent with genesis, chapter one through three, and with the world view that comes from the bible. Because the bible tells us that embracing a desire, any desire that's at odds with the Creator's design will never bring ultimate happiness. It just won't. The passion to live as a member of the opposite sex isn't simply satisfied by surgically altering your body. There are deeper issues at stake Than exterior physical and cosmetic alterations. Now I want to pause here just for a moment To make a clear distinction between experiencing the feeling and acting on the feeling.
Speaker 2:Come back to Eve in Eden at the start of Genesis, chapter three. Eve was not sinning when Satan spoke to her to tempt her. She was not sinning when she saw the fruit's beauty or even when she felt like the fruit was to be desired. She was not sinning. She sinned. Listen to me she sinned when she went beyond observing the fruit's beauty and she followed her reason and her feelings in opposition to God's word and took it and ate it. That's when she sinned. So, in the same way, individuals who experience gender dysphoria are not necessarily sinning when those feelings occur. The Bible again hear me, the Bible never categorizes unwanted psychological distress as sinful in itself never.
Speaker 2:This experience is a sign that all of ourselves are as broken by sin as the creation around us. Is the reason. This is it. I'm going to help you out with a few things right now. Are you paying attention? The reason that any person ever experienced a physical ailment, the reason my knee is bothering me, the reason any person ever experienced a physical ailment or a psychological state or a perception that goes against God's creative intentions, is because creation itself is fallen. God's not picking on you. So, for example, while having cancer or depression or even experiencing gender dysphoria, is not sinful in and of itself. These experiences, experiences happen. These experiences occur because the world is broken by sin.
Speaker 2:But deciding to let that feeling rule, deciding to feed that feeling so that it becomes the way you see yourself and so that it becomes the way you identify yourself and so that it becomes the way that you act, is sinful, becomes the way you identify yourself and so that it becomes the way that you act, is sinful, because it is deciding that your feelings will have authority over you and will define what is right and will define what is wrong. It is this. It is to act in the same way that adam and eve did in eating from the tree. And when our hearts are hardened and we have decided not to love god, we have decided not to treat him as god, we've decided not to acknowledge him as god, we've decided not to glorify him as god, all in accordance with god's word that our minds are affected too. Our minds are affected, that is to say, not only our feelings and desires, but also our logic and our reason are impacted by sin and speaking of the difference it makes to live under god's authority rather than how those who live in rejection of god's right to rule do.
Speaker 2:Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 17 through 18, says this. Ephesians 4, 17 and 8 through 18 says this Ephesians 4, 17 through 18 says this this I say, therefore, and testifying the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. And so, without God in the picture, without God ruling, our reason is dramatically impaired. Look, we can think brilliantly, but not necessarily truthfully. The question remains do you want to stay where you are, being your own king? Do you want to stay where you are, being your own ruler, acting as if you are your creator? Or do you want to follow the crucified creator, who made you, who died for you, who rose again for you, who will forgive you and save you and give you a new life, and he knows what's best for you? Who do you want to?
Speaker 1:follow. You've been listening to Foundations of Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Timothy Mann at Providence Church, ormond Beach, florida. You're invited to join us on Sundays at 1151 West Granada Boulevard in Ormond Beach For service times, bible fellowship groups and more information on activities at Providence Church, go online to theprovidencechurchorg. Join us again next week at this same time, on this same station, for Foundations of Truth with Pastor Timothy Mann.
