2 Peter 1:2-4 (NKJV) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The Word of God is Christians’ yardstick in measuring what is right and wrong in society, including gender issues. We know from Genesis that God made Adam and Eve to be partners for life. The Bible starts with a marriage between a man and a woman and ends with the church being the bride of Christ in the Book of Revelation, so the biblical view of marriage is always between a man and a woman, and there is absolute gender clarity in God’s creation. Nonetheless, we live in a broken and fallen world, and sin is lawlessness, self-centredness and living apart from God.
Because we are made up of body, soul and spirit, and all our bodies are fallen—believers and non-believers alike, unless we know how to walk in the Spirit, we will be subject to fleshly desires dictated by the body through its senses. As the struggle with our flesh won’t end until we get to heaven, it’s necessary to renew our minds with the Word of God to have the awareness that we can overcome these natural or unnatural sexual desires.
The last battlefield is in the realm of our mind. The devil is trying hard to conform us to the world by advocating through media, social media and even education that sexual confusion, sexual fluidity, same sex attraction, fornication and adultery are all ok. Therefore, we must counteract these lies with the truths about our identity in Christ and live from them. First, know that we are children of God saved by grace, redeemed, born again, and have new hearts that are empowered by the Holy Spirit to reign in our fleshly desires. Second, we need to deal with the issue of rejection by knowing that we are accepted in the beloved. Because the root of rejection started in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were booted out, a restored relationship with God is the only thing that will give us a definite sense of security.
We are deeply loved by God since we are hidden in Christ, and it is in Christ that we are seen as righteous, holy, and accepted by God. Knowing our identity in Christ enables us to live confidently and differently through the knowledge that we can rule and reign through our spirit man instead of being subject to the realm of the soul. We need to exercise the truth of who we are in Christ in our daily living, including dealing with our thought life, being selective with what we watch, and refusing to let our feelings get the better of us.
Sermon Series: Natural or Unnatural? (PART 1 Gender Confusion)
行驶我们身份的真理
彼得后书 1:2-4 愿恩惠、平安因你们认识神和我们主耶稣多多地加给你们！当在各等德行上求进步3 神的神能已将一切关乎生命和虔敬的事赐给我们，皆因我们认识那用自己荣耀和美德召我们的主。 4 因此，他已将又宝贵又极大的应许赐给我们，叫我们既脱离世上从情欲来的败坏，就得与神的性情有份。
上帝的话语是基督徒衡量社会对错的准绳，包括性别问题。 我们从创世记知道，上帝创造亚当和夏娃成为终生的伴侣。 圣经以一男一女的婚姻开始，以启示录中的教会为基督的新妇结束，所以圣经的婚姻观始终是一男一女，而且在上帝的创造中在性别上有绝对的明确性。 尽管如此，我们生活在一个破碎和堕落的世界中，罪就是违背律法、以自我为中心和与上帝隔离。
因为我们是由灵魂体组成的，我们的肉体都是堕落的—信徒和非信徒都一样，我们若不知道按着圣灵行事，就必顺从肉体的情欲。由于与肉体的斗争在我们到达天堂之前不会结束，因此有必要用上帝的话语更新我们的心意，使我们可以有意识地去克服这些自然或不自然的情欲。
我们的心思意念中。魔鬼正试图通过媒体、社交网络甚至教育来宣传性混乱、性流动性、同性吸引、奸淫和通奸都是可以的，让我们效法这个世界。 因此，我们必须使用关于我们在基督里的身份的真理来抵挡这些谎言，并依靠神的话而活。 首先，知道我们是上帝的儿女，靠着恩典得救、被救赎、重生，有了新造的心，圣灵赐给我们力量，在我们肉体的欲望中掌权。 其次，我们需要处理被拒绝的问题，要知道我们在爱子里被接纳。 因为拒绝的根源始于亚当和夏娃被赶出伊甸园时，唯一能给我们带来确切安全感的就是与上帝恢复关系。
因为我们藏在基督里，所以我们被神深深地爱着，在基督里我们被视为公义、圣洁并被神接纳。 知道我们在基督里的身份，使我们能够自信地生活并且与众不同，因为我们知道我们可以通过我们的灵人而不是魂来统治和管理。 我们需要在日常生活中行驶我们在基督里的身份这一真理，包括处理我们的思想生活、有选择地观看我们的节目，以及拒绝让我们的感觉控制我们。
讲章系列： 自然或非自然 (第一部分 性别困惑)
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