Is Transgenderism a Salvation Issue? - What Does the Bible Say About That?

How bad is transgenderism? Does God abominate it as he does other sexual perversions? Can you be a “transgender Christian” or is that like saying an “incestuous Christian” or a “wiccan Christian?” If a young Christian man comes to believe he is actually a woman, just how serious is that, and what should we say to him? More importantly, what will Christ say on the last day — if he doesn’t repent?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome, my friends, to Generations Kevin Swanson with you. Today another segment of What Does the Bible Say About That? And Joshua Shuiso, our director of publications here for the Generations Ministry in Studio. And Josh, I appreciate the fact that you are a Bible student. You've always loved it.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Always more to learn. It's amazing. And you've loved the word of God, don't you? Yes. God's word is a great gift, great treasure.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

And we have to keep getting back to it. You know, I mean we have to keep the word of God. We're going to get to that on this segment. The question today is what does the Bible say about transgenderism and salvation issues? This is from a brother in South Africa. He says, We've met a few times. Before I ask the question, I want to say thank you for your ministry. Had a conversation with a coworker who told me his son now identifies as a woman. He said he's trying to love him through this, but he took comfort that this is not a salvation issue. All the fibers in my body wanted to scream this as a salvation issue, but I decided not to comment until I did my homework. So how would you respond to this biblically? So that's the question. How would you respond to this? A coworker, a friend, has a son who's trying to transgender, whatever that means. Well, first of all, let's answer the question: what does the Bible say about transgenderism? And I think that's pretty straightforward. I mean, Jesus had something to say that, you know, God created man and woman at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yeah, Matthew 19, you know, he he cites the Genesis creation pattern in relation to marriage, but of course it speaks to uh the gender reality. He says, uh he answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And then it goes on to cite the uh Genesis passage.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, from the beginning, and there's no adaptation to that. God determined that. God decided it. God established it, He He formed it this way. This was his will from the very beginning. But I think one of the most explicit passages is Deuteronomy 22, 5. And the Bible calls this an abomination against God. 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. Now, we understand that there are principles in the Old Testament that have varying applications in the New Testament, but we also discover that this kind of passage, passages related to sexuality, to uh to murder, and so forth, are repeated and referred to in the New Testament, such as what you find in 1 Corinthians 5 or 1 Corinthians 6 or 1 Timothy chapter 1. I mean, these passages refer to these sorts of things. Yes. And the Molokoi as well. The Molokoi is the idea of uh a man, it's a word used in the Greek in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 6 and a few other places in the New Testament, where uh where the apostles will say, Hey, uh, a man who wears the soft garments and uh and plays the part of the soft homosexual is uh is still committing this this terrible tragic sin.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Um Yeah, and it's noteworthy covenant in Deuteronomy 22, 5, when it says that this is an abomination to the Lord your God, that the uh the word for abomination, toe va in Hebrew, is uh primarily applied to uh sins that are like creation perverting, twisting sins. It's applied to homosexuality, it's applied, I believe, to bestiality as well. And now it's applied here to this cross-dressing pattern. And so it speaks to something that is overturning creation order and that is very displeasing to God.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

And in this case, it's cross-dressing, as you said. And cross-dressing has been around for a while. I mean, I think probably from about the time of the creation and the fall. Uh but but now when we talk about transgenderism today, we're talking about hormones, surgeries for seven-year-olds. So, what we would say is arguing from lesser to greater transgender surgeries are even a greater abomination in the sight of God than cross-dressing. What do we mean by arguing from lesser, from the lesser to the greater?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, well, it is the idea that one can take an ethical principle from uh a lesser scenario that's less, we might say less severe, and therefore apply the same principle to the escalating scenarios as it grows in its heinousness as an outworking.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Right. So if you're trying to look like a woman by dress, that itself is an abomination. But if you're adding certain body organs or cutting off other body organs in order to again look like a woman, a man looking like a woman, that's even more severe. That's that's trying harder.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

I think we could all agree with that. That's trying even harder to to violate the principle of Deuteronomy 22, verse 5. Absolutely, yes. Okay, so uh friends, this is very important. If a guy tries to look like a girl, now that itself, that itself does not earn a civil penalty according to the laws of God. If you're looking at Old Testament law or New Testament law, you don't find that to be the case, but it does become a real issue uh for the church. The church absolutely needs to deal with that problem. There needs to be some church discipline, uh, and it might take some time, right? We don't just pull the trigger immediately on church discipline, but uh there is a responsibility before God that every church, including the church of Corinth, address issues, well, like incest or homosexuality, other sorts of crimes or sins that are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. So those are really critical. And Paul goes on and on that these are the sorts of sins that need to be dealt with in the in the church, by the church.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah, and the church needs to um enter into that, of course, first of all, with giving pastoral counsel and confrontation. You might have a man or a woman that's struggling with these temptations. They may need counsel, exhortation, and help to think through these temptations biblically and to see God's solution in the scriptures. And one would hope that that person will be helped to be steered in the right direction. But of course, if there's an impenitent heart, if there's an unwillingness to receive the word, and there's a running after this idolatrous and covetous desire, and it is covetousness, right? Because covetousness involves desiring something that God hasn't given you. That's right. That's another category that's applicable here is God did not give you the if you're a woman, if you're a man, he did not make you a woman.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

And to want to be a woman is to covetously desire that which God did not give you.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

And that needs to be dealt with. And they may desire to have a womb and to have babies, but I mean, guys can want that as badly as they ever wanted it. They can, you know, try to rearrange organs and all the rest, but I'm sorry, you've still got the XXXY issue. Yeah, the chromosomes. That's it's built into your DNA. It's difficult to change 50 trillion cells of the body. That's that's a project.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yes, yeah. It's gonna take some work. And not has not been figured out yet.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

No, exactly. And and and to sit around lusting after that all day long, it's gotta be pretty frustrating. Yes. And it is. Uh they they attempt it, but they don't get it, and that's of course a very, very terrible position to be in. Now, all that to say that there are still sinners in the church. We all sin. Absolutely. So the question of salvation issue. Uh let's discuss that for just a moment. Um in other words, can somebody be saved and be engaged in serial killing? Apporting multiple babies, robbing banks, transgenderism, homosexuality, adultery, uh, illegitimate divorce. You know, those are the sorts of questions that people are asking. Now, number one, the salvation issue is regeneration.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Right. We gotta start with has the new birth occurred? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Are they alive in Christ? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

That's gonna be a first question.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

And that's the first question. So the biggest salvation issue is has God saved you and has the Holy Spirit regenerated you into new life? Yes. Where you can get up and walk in newness of life.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

That's the biggest question. And if that's happened. And by the way, if you've had if you've got that, if you've got eternal life by the regenerated work of the Holy Spirit in your life, if you've got eternal life, John 3.16, that life is eternal. Yeah. The logic on that, you you follow the logic on that?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Eternal life is eternal. Yeah. Eternal life is eternal.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

And you cannot lose eternal life. So let's remember that.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

First John says that the seed of God abides in us as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

It won't perish. Exactly. So that that's super obvious. Um, but the question, I guess, is have they been regenerated? And do these questions matter? Now, they matter certainly to church elders who are responsible for church discipline. If somebody turns up in the church, like a Simon Magus, let's say you got a Simon Magus in the church, super into witchcraft, you know, just really likes to hang out with the witches, doesn't it? Got baptized, yeah, but still in the witchcraft thing. Yeah, involved in the witchcraft thing. Well, at some point, Peter puts a finger in his face and says, You are in the bond of iniquity, man. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Goll of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Goll of bitterness, repent lest these things come upon you.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Exactly. And then he said, Pray for me, which is a bad sign.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

He should have prayed as well. He should have been praying himself.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

He wanted Peter pray for him. That's a real bad sign. I mean, no faith. No faith and no repentance involved in that man's life. So there are an occasional Simon Magus in the church, and you're gonna run into the stony ground, the thorny ground. And so the the elders of the church have responsibility to make a judgment call. Now, I don't think I have to make a judgment call for this guy, partially because I don't know this guy from Adam.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

I don't have the context.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, he lives in South Africa, he's an acquaintance of acquaintance of so I I don't need to make that judgment call, but if it is a friend or or if they're church elders involved, they're gonna have to make judgment calls at some point. Right. That's the first Corinthians five thing. You know, Paul says, hey, you can't just let this guy be hanging out with his father's wife and involved in incestuous relationships. I mean, that's that's gross.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

You know, excommunicate that guy, cut him out. Um this is what Paul's saying in first Corinthians five.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

And then he also adds that if there's people doing these other kinds of things, these other common, these other sins that are not repentant, yeah, don't eat with them, don't have anything to do with them. Right? Good point. He makes another list, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah, yeah, he moves on to other sexual sins and such. Okay, so if this is a friend, okay, let's say it's your friend. And in this case, it sounds like it's a it's it's a friend or a friend of a friend, yeah, or a son of a particular friend at work, then we may want to warn warn our friend that they may not be in Christ, and Jesus may say to them one day, Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. Depart from me into everlasting fire with the devil and his angels forever. Do you think we ought to warn people about that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Yeah, I mean, certainly, especially when we have a friendship, a connection, uh, there's a call there for us to speak the truth in love. Even at the heart, it's hard to do. It is hard. Yeah, may God give us courage when we have that context to speak to these things, especially when it's one thing when you have somebody that is openly an unbeliever and they say, I embrace this, I reject God, and then the evangelistic conversation is kind of obvious. You say, Well, I'm a Christian, here's what I believe. But but when there's somebody that is potentially self-deceived that says I'm a follower of Christ and I'm gonna go towards this covetous desire and fulfill it, um, that's where we need to say, if these aren't consistent with one another, you can't you can't follow Christ and live out this idolatrous tension.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And so I guess what we're dealing with is people who attend church, they read a lot of Matthew Vine stuff, you know, or whoever, uh whatever new apostates coming down the pike who's writing on the issue of LGBTQ. And so they've got his stuff and they're reading it, they're saying, well, you know, I I can be loving Jesus out there and loving this guy, and everything's good. Um and so I think a couple of things. One is Jesus did say, depart from me, you anti-nomian. Depart from me, you anti-God's law person.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Goes without against and without the law of God. Yeah. Anomia.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Anomia is against or anti. Effectively it's anti, anti-nomi or anti-law of God. There are people out there that try to approve, they say they call Jesus Lord, Lord. Jesus said they call me Lord, Lord. Yes. But they are still workers of iniquity, workers of lawlessness. They have embraced lawlessness, they have an attitude that hates the law of God. Absolutely hates the law of God. If if I was going to read Deuteronomy 22, 5 on this program and somebody into transgenderism is listening, or if I'm reading, you know, 1 Corinthians 6 and uh other passages relating to how evil the sin of homosexuality is, uh, there are people that absolutely hate that. Yes. They hate the law of God. Yes. And Jesus will say to those who hate God's law at the end, uh, depart from me, you haters of God's law, and to everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It's a sobering power. It's it's tough, yeah. So the antinomian approves of sin. This is the issue. So one thing about one thing that you know what, I've sinned. I've sinned in some very grievous ways. And uh, and I I have come face to face with these passages.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

And we've all been workers of lawlessness of the same thing. Oh, yes, oh yes. And and I have I have come face to face with, I mean, you name it, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Matthew 5, Matthew 6, 7, whatever. I I I have come face to face with my sin, and and Josh, I have to say I'm a sinner.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

But you know what? Tag, I'm it. I'm guilty. I just come to God and say, God, forgive me for these sins. In fact, I just did that last night. I've been impatient with my wife, with my family, with my grandkids.

unknown 14:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Moments at which I confess that in front of the brothers and sisters at prayer meeting last night. And um, you know, I'm asking God's forgiveness for that. I want I want to love. I'm tired of this not loving. I'm tired of this lusting, the the issue of lusting, the discontentment issues in my life. I don't want that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, and you notice that. I hate it. Amen. Yeah, you notice how Jesus speaks in the Lord's Prayer to his believers, his followers are gonna be praying daily, frequently, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Yeah, a life of confession is a very good thing. Sure it is a Christian life.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

But if but if I was gonna say, well, yeah, but you know what? Um, I get a free pass on this. I've got this little problem with you know, not content with my own sexuality, you know, I just I have just lust after being the opposite sex, and I have a lust for the opposite sex, or or by for the same sex, or for the opposite sex, or I have a lust for pornography, or I have a lust for uh women that are to whom I'm not married, etc. etc. Um, that's just sin. Yeah, that's evil. Yeah. And I should not approve it. I should not try to approve it. The unique thing about uh LGBTQ, which includes, by the way, the transgender thing, is that you've got this free pass that's been institutionalized by a set of persons to whom Jesus will be saying, Who are you on judgment day? Like, and exactly who are you? So you you approved of uh LGBTQ as the Supreme Court Justice of the United States of America. Who are you? Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting darkness with the devil and his angels forever and ever. May you burn in hell forever and ever. That's the kind of thing Jesus says to people who approve of. So this approving of LGBTQ sin has become the special sin of the day, the favored sin, the sin de jure, the sin that gets the free pass. I think more than anything else, it can also be worn on a shoulder as a badge of honor and pride, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

So that's one of the great dangers and temptations that will face people in our culture as they think about being drawn into this or any one of those letters as a sin, is that they're going to be thinking the whole world is patting me on the back and telling me this is good.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

But will we believe the words of Christ and his truth or I get it.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I mean, in some cases, these guys who sin like this are in the closet. Now, I honestly don't think they should stay in the closet. I think they should drag their sins out, confess their sins, and let the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse them from all sin. That's what I think they should do. Get out of the sin, get out of the closet, and then place the sin before Jesus at the cross. Okay. But but this idea of wearing it as a brad badge of honor, if I wore a badge of honor, you know, I'm a big fat liar. And let's say I'm trying to sell cars or something, and I had this big badge. Yes. I'm a big fat liar. Yeah. Probably not the approved sin of the day.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Especially if you're a car salesman. I'm not gonna want anything to do with you, but and it's not an approved sin as a category, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Or if I'm a part of this new club, the liars, gamblers, burglars, traders, and quarrelers club.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

It happens to correspond to the club.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That's LGBTQ.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Liars, gamblers, burglars, traders, and quarrelers club.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Do I get a free pass? Just because I get to sign up to the LGBTQ club?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Theoretically, our culture could have done that and and given you a free pass, given you a flag, given you all the things, but uh not yet.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, but God doesn't. And this is the point is God won't give you the free pass.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yes, for any, any, any which list of sins that we have.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

And and like what we've said before is that you know what? We have equal opportunity grace for any sin.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Mm-hmm. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

And so LGBTQ included, and nobody gets exempt themselves, like from the grace of God. Like I'm exempt. I I I haven't sinned in any of these ways. And LGBTQ has been approved of by the Supreme Court of the United States and by various countries. Therefore, therefore, I am exempt from the grace of God.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

To which you would say Yeah, you're not exempt because you're also in debt, you're indebted as a sinner. You have many debts.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Well, you have to say I mean, that's not nice.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, it's not nice.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

If I was walking around saying, Yeah, you know what, the grace of God is good for Josh and me and the sins that we sin, but all the LGBTQ people they don't get the grace of God. Yeah. Because apparently they're the elder brother in the prodigal son story, right? And they don't have sins and they don't need to humble themselves before God. They're just as proud as they can be of their lust. And therefore, they are exempt from the grace of God. I just don't think that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

No, that's not truthful. It's not truthful. And sadly, it would uh it also means they would miss out on the great deliverance that the Lord Jesus has come to bring, not only the forgiveness of sins, but the deliverance from the enslavement of sin as well. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Uh that's that's this is the great salvation, and that's this is the great story. I know. So I guess the question is if you've got somebody who's saying, hey, I'm I'm doing porn, I I'm doing transgender, I I'm doing uh homosexuality, I'm I'm doing adultery, I'm cheating on my wife anytime I want to. And I still want to be elder, I still want to be deacon in this church. I still want to be uh a member of this church. We would have to say that's an issue, that's a problem. That's a salvation problem.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

You're not living the life of faith and repentance that characterizes true believers.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Which means we're looking for fruit. We're looking for, is this legit? Right. And is that appropriate for us? Now we could be overly judgmental, right? And we could we could uh you know be impatient. And I and you know what, as pastors in our church, I I've I've tried to maintain the position for years, maybe not so much my earlier years, but uh for the last number of years that we should be patient and we should walk with people. And yes, we've had guys with porn issues and we've walked with them, and some of them with for four or five, seven years.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, and it takes time to see what's happening.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

And you know what? I'm seeing victory in their lives. Sometimes it does take time. But but you know, if there's somebody who's saying, and we've had this instance, and I don't I don't want to bring out any names or anything like that, but we've had guys say, you know, I have a porn issue, but I like my porn. And I don't want any accountability on this. And you know what? Those kind of people don't work in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just saying it. Yeah, they just can't survive. Now they can be anonymous in some megachurch, granted. Or they can be anonymous in some church that doesn't ask them questions, but not in a real church. Talk about a real church where we walk in the light.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

They can't they can't really live out the Christian life. Uh Galatians 5 24 says those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So if there's anybody that's gonna say, I'm not gonna crucify this passion and desire, I'm not gonna put that one up on the cross to let it die, that doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

What did John Owen say in his book Mortification of Sin? Kill sin or it will be killing you. Right. And that came from Romans 8.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Romans 8. He yeah, it says, if you uh do not kill sin, you will die. Just to read the text here. Uh if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Right. So kill sin or it'll be killing you. So if you have people who say, no, no, I'm not in the killing sin business, I don't like to repent. I approve of undwelling sin. I improve, I approve of it. In fact, I I I'm doing everything I'm gonna write in 600-page apologies for why I'm living a life of pornography and transgenderism. Yeah, you would say that guy's not a believer.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

He's not living the life of repentance. You can't defend the sin and then repent of it. Yeah. It doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

And remember that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, distinct but not separate.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Yeah, we're saved by faith alone. We're justified by faith alone. Uh, but that faith is always accompanied in terms of saving faith with true repentance. This is a and and repentance and faith are both a gift of God, they're both granted by the grace of God.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Well, you know, as as we read scripture, first John uh certainly has something to say about this, but habitual sin is a concern where there's no been no victory whatsoever. Okay. A refusal to confess sin, a refusal to walk in the light or to, you know, be uh upfront with the sin that you're dealing with, um, a refusal to keep the commandments of God, uh, or even being concerned at all for the commandments of God, a lack of love for the brotherhood, um, love for the world. If the if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. I mean, these are the sorts of things that first John John is saying in his book, first John, the Epistle.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, he draws out so many distinctions, and I think of uh 1 John 3, verse 4: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. There's that word again. Sin is lawlessness. That's the definition. You know that he, Jesus, appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. So you got the no language there again, similar to Jesus in Matthew 7. And then it says that you haven't seen him, you haven't known him, and you don't abide in him if you continue in this unrepentant practice.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Well, when we talk about repentance, repentance unto life is a saving grace where a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, an apprehension of the knowledge of God in Christ, turns from it unto God with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience. So there's this, first of all, turning away from sin, repelling from sin and the sinfulness, getting to the point I hate my sin, to the point that I turn to Jesus in faith, believing and hoping and praying that he will save me from my sin. That's right. And so I want to distinguish, I think it's appropriate to distinguish between authentic repentance and inauthentic repentance. Now, I don't believe it's a quantity issue. People come back and say, Yeah, but how much? How much repentance? How much uh should I hate the world? How much should I love the brother? To me, that's the wrong question. I'm simply asking, is there a heart that is moving in the direction that is hating sin more and more, loving Jesus increasingly? So what's the trajectory? And we've talked about direction, not perfection. I think that's what you're looking at. And that's one reason why I do think time is important. Uh time will tell in the life of a person that you're working with. And there is a point at which you determine that this guy so loves the world that he's turning away from Christ. And his heart is so hardened to God's word, he's not keeping the commandments. He's not abiding in Christ. He has no interest in abiding in the words of Christ. And uh, I think you have to draw the conclusion this guy has no real repentance in his life.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah. And Paul helps us with understanding that in 2 Corinthians 7, where he brings out the uh the kind of repentance that is true repentance. He calls it repentance that leads to salvation. Uh, and he says it involves earnestness, eagerness to clear oneself, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, punishment, and all of that zeal and punishment and indignation is against the sin that you're repenting of. Yeah. There's an intensity to it that shows itself in your actions.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah. So there's a critical mass issue. Now, one last question. I'm sure somebody's going to say something like this. Well, you know, Josh, Jesus didn't talk about transgenderism. He didn't even mention bestiality. You know, hopefully this guy's not hanging out with the animals in the barnyard or anything like that. But um, Jesus didn't talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

All he seemed to be concerned about was divorce, looking after a woman to lust after. He didn't talk about looking after a man to lust after him. What do you say to somebody like that?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yeah, well, what we find as we study the words of Christ is he did uphold the law of God. He came to fulfill it in terms of its demands that we could not fulfill. But I think of Matthew 5, 17, he says, Do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Verse 19, going on there, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be great in the kingdom of heaven. And then as it follows in the Sermon on the Mount, he he cites the law of God from Moses, corrects misunderstandings, upholds its truth, applies it spiritually to us. And so we see Jesus not overturning the law of God in the Old Testament, but see, upholding its righteousness and its principles.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

And at the end of the day, maybe he wasn't running into a rich young ruler who was dealing with these particular sins.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, from an occasional standpoint.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Right. All right, my friends. Well, that wraps up this edition of the Generations uh broadcast. I hope this has been helpful to you. At the end of the day, what is this? What is the gospel? Well, the gospel is that Jesus came to save us from our sins. Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins, rose again the third day to overcome sin, the devil, and death for us. Praise be to God. He sets us free from the bondage of sin because if the sin will set you free, you will be free indeed. And it's for us to number one, see that we need to be saved from what? From sin. You know, people don't want to be saved from sin. They're not going to be saved. Right. I mean, what? You don't want to be saved? Okay, you don't get saved. Right. So people want to be saved? They get saved. So if there are people who want to be saved from sin, the violation of God's holy law, they will be saved. Just ask and it will be given to you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will be saved in your household. Just like that. But you want to be saved. And which means that repentance and this idea that we need to be saved from something has to come first before anybody will turn to Jesus in true saving faith. Two sides of the same coin. Yes. Well, this is generations. And we're asking the question today: what does the Bible say about that? W D B S A T. That's what we usually say for short. Yes. Um, and get a copy of the book, What Does the Bible Say About That? I wrote it a number of years ago. It's one of my most basic worldview presentations for nine-year-olds or 90-year-olds. Yes. Either way. It's the basic stuff. Gotta make sure we get our basic stuff down straight. What does the Bible say about that? It's a very simple book. Available at generations.org. This is Kevin Swanson and Joshua Schuisso, inviting you back again next time as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation. This has been a production of the Generations Media Network. For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.