Basic Truths Procreation Is Not Optional

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Good morning If you do have a Bible turn to Genesis chapter 1 and we're going to be continuing our study on Genesis about basic truths
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The basic truth that we're going to be talking about today is the truth that procreation is not optional
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So again, if you have a Bible turn to Genesis 1 28 and when you have Genesis 1 28
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Go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word Genesis 1 28
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And God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and Over every living thing that moves on the earth.
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This is the word Lord Let's pray Lord we do
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Thank you for the opportunity that we have to come and to think about the scriptures you've given to us which are life to us
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Pray they bless our time here today and help us to understand you better and why you've made us
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In your son's name. I pray Amen You may be seated now as Christians.
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We face a great enemy who seems to have declared war on children One of the one of our jobs as pastors is to tell you about the nature of the schemes of the devil that you face
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And as the Apostle says we are not ignorant of his schemes And it's fascinating to note that so many of his schemes seem to Center around children
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Satan was liar from the beginning, but he's also a murderer If you think about the nature of Revelation and the nature of his assault upon human beings
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It seems that his assault from the very beginning was focused on children in a way that's somewhat remarkable
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So Jesus tells us that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and what he's referring to is
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Satan's plan to destroy the offspring of the woman in the garden. So we know that in the aftermath of the fall
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There was a message of hope the woman's pain would be made more difficult in childbearing
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But there would be a seed that would come from the woman who would triumph over the seed of the serpent
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There was going to be this great battle this great antithesis The woman would bear an offspring.
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We know that that offspring ultimately points to Jesus Christ who will be our salvation but there this this seed also refers to the godly line that comes from Adam and Eve and The ungodly line that comes from Cain.
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We know that Cain murdered his brother In rebellion to God's purposes. That was the first act of murder that Satan was behind And when you notice
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Satan's plan over the course of the Bible it often centers around the destruction of children
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Satan has declared war on The seed of this woman as is evidenced by his interactions within the
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Exodus Where he seeks to destroy the godly offspring of Israel you see this same pattern working itself out in the
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New Testament as you open the pages of New Testament and see that Herod has the same kind of plan of trying to exterminate all the children of Israel in order to put an end to the
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Messiah Satan's plan is often involved trying to kill children and When you think about the world that you live in today so much of the schemes of the devil seem
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To be centered around this basic objective, don't they? We face a
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Holocaust as it relates to the topic of abortion and it's not just a small Holocaust I mean it is
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Over 60 million children today have been killed In accordance to this plan by a great enemy of our souls
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That we are very with it. We should as Christians be very much aware of That's 10
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Holocaust brothers and sisters. That's a lot of children that have been killed By virtue of this all -out assault on children and think about all the confusion that surrounds you today in the world
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So much of it is as I said a direct assault on children viewing children as an inconvenience viewing children as Burden think about the transgender confusion that's happened.
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What is that? If not a plan that is designed to eradicate children
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So Satan's plan is to kill children. You see that abortion his plan with transgenderism is to Keep them from being born in the first place, but that's not all of his plans.
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He has many plans that Involve trying to persuade Christians that it's fundamentally morally irresponsible to have children even
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You know some what I'm trying to say so many of his plans are centered around the destruction of the family and the prevention
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The formation of new life. I don't need to tell you these things, you know, these things you've heard these things you you hear
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And are aware and live in an environment where there is great pressure to have children and If you haven't experienced that pressure then it's very simple
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Just try to get married early and start having children very early And what you'll realize is that seemingly heaven and earth stand against you trying to keep you from having those children
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But then in reality, it's not heaven that stands against you It's only earth that stands against you.
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God has given us in his word instructions to have Children that couldn't be any more clear than what they are and yet Satan has persuaded us through a great many means that having children is just some optional thing that couples might pursue if they
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Feel led to have them But as I said, I mean you're living in a world right now that is very hostile to these notions
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There are many in there are very many significant voices in the world that are trying to persuade you
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That this is just some optional plan almost as if it's immoral at times. So here's a few quotes
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Bill Gates and 2010 TED talk. He says the world today has six point eight billion people
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This was you know 2010 that's heading up to about nine billion now Really do a great job on the new vaccines health care reproductive health services
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We can lower that by perhaps 10 to 15 percent So you're living in a world that thinks that overpopulation is the major problem that we have to face
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We have to stop the children from happening Here's Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don't turn the ship around and so it's basically like There's a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult and it does lead
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I think young people to have a legitimate question. Is it okay to still have children? Here's primatologist and environmental activist
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Jean Goodall. It's very clear that we have a finite planet with finite resources It's very clear that we cannot push population growth and definitely the more people there are the more they consume the more
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Environmental destruction there is here's Paul Uric author of the population bomb 1968 the mother of the year should be a sterilized woman with two adopted children
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So as I said, I mean you live in a world where I Mean, this is just this is just a quick search of quotes that I've given you but these this message is pervasive
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It's persistent Satan has a plan is a plan to try to destroy children if they have if you happen to have them
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He has a plan to try to keep you from having them which you should be actively aware of and then if you do have them
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He wants you to hand them over to him in order for him to teach them what it means to be a human being so he he he has a unique and Intentional focused assault on children in contrast to Christ who?
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Instructs us to let the little children come to him. But as I said his perhaps one of his most sophisticated schemes as it relates to this topic is the lie that procreation procreation is just some optional endeavor that people might
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Pursue if they were so inclined if the spirit moves them if they fill lead Procreation is optional.
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So one of the things that we want to explore today is we want to explore this question from the opening chapters of Genesis is procreation optional is a world, right?
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Do we need to have less children? As humanity filled its mission. Is there even a mission to have children?
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What does God say about these things? We're going to talk about some of these things today Now when you think about the passage it seems like you're reading a passage that Genesis 128 that couldn't be more clear
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There's nothing grammatically complicated about this passage it's a passage that Really seems to be about as clear as it can possibly be and yet at the same time the confusion related to this passage is
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Not just present in the world who rejects it outright It certainly is present in the church as well
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And so what we want to do is I want I want to spend some time thinking about what you find in this passage so I want to I want to present to you today a
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Survey of this passage and just give you some basic thoughts about the the passage itself
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I want to spend a little time after that talking about The current situation we find ourself in the pressures that we uniquely face as a society
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We do face some very unique questions I didn't want to answer some objections and then talk about God's broader purpose for procreation beyond Just the fact that it's not an optional thing that he's put forward and so that that brief outline will govern the thoughts of our time here today, and we will begin these thoughts by paying careful attention to the passage itself now
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Genesis 128 it comes in a particular context and I suppose I could read the whole chapter
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Genesis 1, but if you do turn to Genesis 126 I think this will suffice for our time here today
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Genesis Genesis 126 says this Then God said let us make man in our own image now notice
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This is after the creation of animals God says let us make man in our own image after our likeness
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And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every
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Creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image and the image of God he created him
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Male and female he created them and God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful multiple
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I fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over Every living thing that moves on the earth, so this is a passage as I said over the course of this study
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That's designed to answer some basic worldview questions. This is a book of origins brothers and sisters
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It's a book of origins This is intending God is intending in this book to tell the
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Israelites in the first instance and by extension you Who you are where do you come from?
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Where are you going? So let's try to answer them Let's try to answer these questions. Who are you? What does the
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Bible say? You're man, right? So notice how it said in Genesis 126 then God said let us make man in our own image man refers to everyone in the room
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Mankind who are you you are a member of the human race? You are a special creation of God created in his image in contrast to the animals.
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Who are you you're man? You're either a male or female you have a unique Purpose a unique design you are created in his image
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So God determines to make image bearers who are going to represent him
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And he obviously had a plan before the foundation of the world to make these image bearers He's letting us know like in a temporal way
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How he unfolded out this plan that he had before the foundation of the world, but who are you God decides to make man?
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In his own image either male or female and what does he do? He decides to make them and bless man with the blessing of responsibility.
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That's what he's done So notice what it says in Genesis 126 is God says let us make man in our own image after on likeness
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So this is before he made them He's saying let us make man in our own image after on likeness and let them
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Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven over livestock and every creeping thing so God makes them and Then he blesses them with this plan that he has for them that he had before their creation you understand
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So who are you you're man? You're made either male or female you're created in the image of God.
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Why are you here? Why are you here? Obviously the atheists have no answer to this question.
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They don't know why they're here They try to divide derive some kind of moral imperatives from what is they try to drive an ought from an is but they don't know
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Why they're here They blame it all on natural Selection what sounds a whole lot like divine intelligence, but that's neither here nor there.
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They don't know why we're here They have no decisive answer to why they're here. Why are you here? This passage is telling you why you're here.
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Why are you here because God made you to fulfill your creative purpose this Brothers and sisters is not just some arbitrary random thing that God decided to say the human race
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This is the primary message he has for the human race upon their creation. This is a big deal
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It's not just some random thing that someone found in the Old Testament Think about its placement in the creative in the creation narrative
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This is a these are unique statements Do you do you understand what I mean? Like they're unique statements that are given at the beginning of creation that tell that they're designed
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To tell you something about why you're here These are not simply just words given to Adam and Eve as the first human beings
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The these are words that are given to man God so God created man in his own image
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Everything's the words given to all image bearers. Okay. Why are you here? Because God made you to fulfill your creative purpose
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What is your purpose in the passage? To be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it to have dominion over the fish of the sea
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Over the birds of the heaven over every living thing that moves on the earth. What is your purpose? God tells the human race right here what their purpose is
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Now notice I Said who are you who got you are man. You're created the image of God.
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What does God do? He gives you a purpose. He blesses man with the blessing of responsibility What is this responsibility that he has blessed man with so what what will notice is
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God's blessing comes in the form of five second person plural imperatives
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I know I'm not allowed to say anything related to grammar without turning this out out of the language the realm of a sermon and Into the realm of lecture, but God blesses you in the form of five second person plural imperatives brothers and sisters
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These are imperatives in form pay attention to the imperatives. So notice what
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Genesis 128 says it says God blessed them and God says to him He's blessing them with the blessing of responsibility that comes in the form of these imperatives.
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Look, what are the five imperatives one? be fruitful be fruitful
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Now this is a second person plural second person plural imperative in the English language
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We don't have ye's anymore to accomplish this purpose. The South still has a second person plural y 'all
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So if you want to understand what this is saying is saying y 'all bear fruit that's what it's saying So be fruitful y 'all bear fruit and multiply right
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That's what it's saying y 'all bear fruit and y 'all multiply and y 'all feel the earth and y 'all subdue it and y 'all have dominion over the
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Fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth There's this blessing that comes in the form of five commands
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Now notice the imperatives they center on procreation don't they It's not just one imperative that is centering on procreation
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I mean, it's difficult to imagine how God could be any more clear about the nature of what he's telling the human race
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It's not one imperative that we can arbitrarily cut out of the list
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About man's created purpose and created function. It's not just like one that you may think. Oh, well, you know
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Maybe there's confusion at that point God gives us three of them at the very least of these five
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That very much center on the primary purpose of procreation So think think through think with me about the nature of these imperatives one be fruitful
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Right be fruitful if that if that wasn't enough and multiply Isn't that kind of saying the same thing be fruitful and multiply and if that wasn't clear enough and fill the earth full of people
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So be fruitful multiply Fill the earth full of people when
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God gives you three different ways of saying the same exact thing He's doing that because he wants to make it abundantly clear what he's trying to say and avoid all kinds of confusion be fruitful
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Multiply fill the earth full of people and then once you've done that What are you supposed to do?
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You're supposed to subdue the earth and Rule it that's what you're supposed to do So fill the earth
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Subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on The earth, how are you going to have dominion over all every living thing that moves on the earth?
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Unless you fill the earth full of people who exercise that kind of dominion over all the earth
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So here's the point here is just to say that God's Blessing to the human race comes in the form of five second person plural imperatives and these imperatives
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Center on procreation now when you read the passage right there it can't
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It's a passage that's exceedingly clear There's no real confusion any confusion we might have about this passage is not coming from exegetical concerns
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This is a very clear passage everyone, you know throughout history has known what this passage means
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The animals are not unclear about the what their blessing to them is at all
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I don't know if you thought about that before they got the same blessing and They seem to know what that means and there seem to engage in this task but at the same time we're living in a world right now that hates that message and So as Christians were tempted to look at those words and treat them as if they're almost an in concert
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Incomprehensible riddle at times and more conservatively we treat them as if they're just kind of optional
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Maybe maybe is for us Provided that you have some additional revelation that tells you specifically that's for you
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And a lot of that has to is related to the fact like to the nature of the current situation that you face brothers and sisters,
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I don't know if you are aware To what degree your impulses on this topic have been influenced
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By the nature of the technology that is available to us at this time and place in history
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So technology has fundamentally changed our basic impulses related to childbearing in ways that are staggering and remarkable and I There's not a person
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I am NOT a Prophet or the son of a prophet, but there's not in the person a person in this room who had their impulses are not affected to Some degree by the nature of the technology that we have today and I'm thinking in particular of the birth control pill
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Okay So I want to give you a brief history of the birth control pill to consider and then we're going to talk about how that's
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Influenced us. So the birth control pill commonly referred to simply as the pill was invented in 1950s
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With clinical trials starting around 1956. It was developed through the efforts of scientists like Gregory Pincus and dr
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John Rock funded by birth control activist Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood and philanthropist
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Catherine McCormick the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive pill in 1960
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All right, so this was a major event that has shaped our impulses as Christians in Dramatic ways.
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So so notice the effects of the birth control pill on childbearing and family size The availability and the adoption of the pill had profound impact on family planning leading to notable changes in birth rates and average family sizes
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So here's a summary of how it influenced children and children count. Okay So there was first a decrease in fertility rates
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So between 1960 and 1970 the US total fertility rate dropped from 3 .65
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to 2 .48 That's in the first 10 years post birth control pill.
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Okay. What do you think it is now by 1980? It fell even further to about 1 .8
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So with the advent of the birth control pill you go from 3 .65 Back down to 1980 is 1 .84
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where it's stabilized if that makes sense. That's a remarkable development Do you understand that's a remarkable difference in other developed nations where the pill became popular similar patterns emerges
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Have emerged so that's Western Europe, Canada, Australia So all birth rates declining significantly from the 1960s to the 1980s
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So what has been the effect of the birth control pill decreased fertility rates later ages of first birth
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So as women gain access to effective contraception many delayed marriages and childbirth birth to pursue education or careers
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We see that happening. We see that happening as a result because the birth control pill made that possible In the
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US the average age of first -time mothers increased from around 21 in the early 60s to approximately 29 and This is among Women in 29 and 20 20s
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So prior to the pill Families like larger families for more children were more common in many countries
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By the 1970s two or three children family became the norm and most of Western societies the proportion of women with three or more children declined steadily for instance by 2006 to 2010 only 27 percent of American women had three or more children compared to about 50 percent in 1960 long term
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Socioeconomic impact the pills availability allowed more women to enter the workforce pursue higher education to create and achieve greater financial stability before having children
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This led to increased economic independence and shifts in household incomes and gender roles and family global patterns countries were access to contraception
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Especially the pill became widespread saw a stabilization or decline in population growth this shift
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Influenced global demographics with many developed countries now experiencing either very slow population growth or natural
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Population declines There's a broader shift to basically delay marriage so people began marrying later traditional family structures evolved
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By delaying childbearing couples could focus on establishing their careers achieving their personal goals
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The invention of the pill is Viewed by many it's one of the key catalysts for Demographic transition seen in many parts of the world throughout the 21st and 20th century
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So think about what this means I Spent some time on the situation Most Christian husbands today are not entering into marriage ready to provide for three people
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They aren't now. I mean I know that we live in a weird area here
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Where you have very high incomes that some people have and other people are very much struggling
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And so they may be financially ready to take on three people But they're not necessarily mentally thinking that that's what they should be doing
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So most Christian husbands are not entering marriage ready to provide for three people that You think about the past churches.
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I've been in this is obviously true Most Christian couples are not entering marriage hoping that God would bless the consummation of their union
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With God's intended outcome for that act namely pregnancy in my last church the first batch of young people they all thought of Childbearing as some additional thing that they may choose to be ready for later after marriage that was universal
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That's ubiquitous in every church. I've been at the first generation of young people. That's the way they thought they thought
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I'm gonna be countercultural by getting married, right? I'm gonna be countercultural by getting married maybe a little bit earlier than what it's expected of me even though Mostly we're following the same patterns that the world is following at that point, but then
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The decision to be mentally ready to have children is an additional consideration. That should be that in their minds should happen at some point after consummation
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That's normal. That's normal. That's not It's it's it's abnormal for people to think oh
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I need to go into marriage Let's try to have kids right away unless they're marrying really late at which point
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Their biological clock is ticking They're trying to figure out how to get as many children as they can before they run out of eggs at that point, right?
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But most Christian couples are not entering marriage hoping God would bless the consummation of their union outcome by the act
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The decision to have a child in the minds of most Christians today is a completely separate decision a couple makes at some
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Point when they feel ready and ready is not being defined as when they say I do
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Now I'm saying that's that that that summary is an accurate summary that you can test empirically with data, but here's the thing like that's
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This Calculation is almost unthinkable in Most periods of history prior to the invention of the pill.
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Do you understand if you don't have some medical means of preventing pregnancy and You're told to engage in a biological act that is designed to produce children
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Obviously by God and you faithfully participate in that act
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The natural outcome of that would be children you're living in a time right now
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Where that's a completely separate consideration But you think that you have to make an additional choice to have children in a way that most people throughout the history of the world didn't think
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Do you do you see what I mean? This new way of thinking about children is only possible in a world
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Where you have technology that allows you to think like that and if you take that technology away
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You very quickly will realize that most people will think about these things the way that they thought about them
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Throughout the history of the world. Okay, which is how God tells you to think about these things Which is how the animals think about these things if they are
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If it could be said that they think rational thoughts in the same way that we think So what
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I'm trying to say is that you are impulses as Christians are very much affected
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By the situation that I described in a moment so that when we read a passage like Genesis 1 28
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God blessed them and God said be fruitful multiply I fell the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven over every
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Living thing that moves on the earth It doesn't necessarily register to us
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What is actually being said? And it's not because God was not clear.
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I mean he gave us multiple commands that are very clear What was unclear is that you're living in a world that hates these things
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That is being influenced by an enemy who hates these things and so we're tempted to as we read these things have the very same impulse as everyone around us has and And read the passage in a way that's just remarkably different so what
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I want to do is I want to answer some objections to the straightforward
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Interpretation of the passage that I have supplied So I've heard many pastors when they teach on this topic they say hey brute be fruitful multiply is not a command but a blessing
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So the text says in God bless them and said be fruitful multiply What they tried to do to get out of the force of these commands is to say well, it's not really a command
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I mean, there's five commands, but they're really a blessing. It's not a it's not a command. It's a blessing
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What's the problem? The problem is that God's? commands are blessings
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God's commands are always blessed all of God's commands are blessings you understand God God gives you words which are blessings to you not only their blessings
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But they they will provide blessings when you obey them when you obey God's commands You're going to experience good that comes from that when you disobey
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God's commands Then you're in the same situation that Adam and Eve were in you're going to experience Consequences to come from that and obviously
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Jesus has come to help forgive us for all the ways in which we transgress God's commands Jesus is the fount of every
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Blessing that comes from us all the blessings that come to us are blessings that come for us in Christ But God's commands in themselves are not curses
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God's commands are blessings be fruitful and multiply It's a blessing that takes the form of five commands
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And this is what the Bible teaches over and over and over again as you read through Ecclesiastes You'll see that the that the preacher and Ecclesiastes understands these commands to be blessings
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And he he's phrasing them in the language of command and in the language of blessing, right? So Ecclesiastes 9 9 enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life
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I love how he says Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that he's given you under the
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Sun because that is Your portion in life and your toil with which you toil under the Sun Notice how he's telling you to enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your vain life
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He's given you because that's your portion. That's your blessing. That's the blessing of That he's given you
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Ecclesiastes 519 everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power and To enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil.
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This is the gift of God God takes man He says be fruitful and multiply fill the earth as we do it He puts man in a garden to work and to keep it those
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Responsibilities that he's given to man are blessings to man the author of Ecclesiastes the preacher understands them to be blessings
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They're saying this is God's gift to you. He's given you something to do He's given you responsibility
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This isn't these aren't chains. This is not slavery This is his gift to you that you have something productive to you
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When people don't have something productive to do They give themselves over to depression.
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That's the natural result We're Made for a purpose.
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There's nothing more hopeless and filled with despair Than taking away someone's purpose or feeling like you have no reason for existence
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God has given the human race Things to busy themselves to do and those are blessings to them
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Satan wants you to think that God's commands are curses not blessings
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This is a passage which refutes that notion imagine a hat maker who hasn't doesn't have any hats to make a
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Servant who has no one to serve Are a car which has nowhere to drive?
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How depressing of a thought is that God has made you as As distinct special creations
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He's given you something to do and you thrive when you give yourself over to what
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God has told you to do And you experience all the negative for it that comes from rejecting that so be fruitful multiply isn't the command
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But it's a blessing response There are five commands in this passage and God's blessings to mankind is the blessing of responsibility.
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The commands are the blessing To it was just Adam and Eve. I Mean well response.
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It was also given to Noah, right? see Simple Genesis 9 1
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God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful multiply fill the earth But all right. All right, so it's only given to Adam.
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No, it's given to Adam and Noah It's only given to Adam and Noah because the world was empty at the time
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Right, so it's only given it is empty. It's no longer empty Like we're in danger of destroying the place, right?
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So slow it down response Notice The original command is given to in image bearers, isn't it?
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So God created man in his own image in the image of God. He created them male and female.
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He created them This is a these are commands given to man Mankind as image bearers these apply to all the image bearers
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Be fruitful multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of sea of the birds of the heaven and over every Living thing that moves on the earth it would be very odd wouldn't it brothers and sisters be very odd to treat the first three as Having no more application to the day, but then the last two
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Do you still have application? Do you notice what I'm saying?
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There's five commands there be fruitful multiply fill the earth So do it have dominion. Why are we treating the first three is if they're different than the last two
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Do we still have dominion over the animals? Are we still called to subdue the earth?
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So we only have to do the first the last two not the first three That really doesn't make any sense because everyone knows that this these are commands given to image bearers.
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Don't we? Notice three so so it's only given to Adam and Noah because the world was empty three
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There was a similar blessing given to animals alive at that time, which I've already said Have you thought about that similar blessing given to animals?
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You see that in Genesis 122 and God blessed them saying be fruitful multiply fill the waters waters of the sea and let birds multiply on heaven
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There's no indication that the animals today consider their blessings who have been accomplished is there you know, the animals they're rebuked to us
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They know what they were made to do They must not have gotten the memo from Senator Ocasio Cortez They know what they they know what they're designed to do
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They're faithfully obeying God and what they're designed to do. They know what they're designed to do I'm not saying that there's not weird situations out there that You like weird random weird situations where you can put forward it like refute the general point that I'm trying to make but animals know what they're designed to do and They're doing what
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God designed to do in those notice that blessing is given to animals Not just the original animals that existed at that time
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It's given to all of them. Just like this blessing is given to mankind and you know what despite all the
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You know despite all the pressure that people have Today to reject the any notion of imperative to the to these things we can't help
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But still follow God's pattern for us Think about it you exist today because someone didn't get that memo
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That they that you weren't supposed to exist or even if they got that memo and felt really guilty for having you
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They couldn't they couldn't fight their design. They knew what they were designed to do They may not be able to communicate that design but think about the nature of the way that you're made
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Your body screams at you that you're made to be fruitful and multiply in a variety of different ways
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A lot of which are related to hormones and you can't seem to stop Trying to obey that command and as much as we fight this command
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And fight this command to our shame The issue is we are inescapably creatures who are made for a purpose and 85 % of people will get married at some point in their life still as much as we hate marriage and There is still a lot of people here exist today.
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Every single one of you exist today because someone Knew that this still applied to them
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They knew what they were designed to do So look God's plan right
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In response to the thought is only given to Adam and Noah because the world is empty at time God's plans for the earth to be
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Filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea That's God's plan that the earth be filled with the knowledge of the
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Lord as the waters cover the sea We have a long way to go Related to these population concerns
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I don't know if you've looked at the information that says that the entire population of the world could live comfortably in,
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Texas I know that you may be tempted to react to that by telling me that yes
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But that may be possible, but you need some land to feed them and I get all that You know, you need some land to feed them
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But here's the point point is just to say that we have a long way to go Brothers and sisters and you know what when when we finish the task when we bring the gospel to every nation every nation
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God's going to return we have a completely different eschatology Than the secularists who do not know
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God We believe that God made the world and that history is driving towards a point where Jesus Christ is gonna come and he's going to Return and at that point in time
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He knows when that point in time is We need to be faithful to what he's called us to do and allow him to deal with the ending
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We're not Driving towards overpopulation is some kind of extinction event We know the end of the story all we have to do is be faithful to God's plan response number four, okay
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It's a generic command given to the whole human race But God might want some people to be devoted to other things there's a generic command given to The whole human race, but God might want some people
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To be devoted to other things. Sure. Sure Estimates suggest that true eunuchs make up a very small fraction of the population likely less than point one percent worldwide anecdotally and I know that this
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Doesn't make for universal law, but I would challenge you to tell me Very many
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Counter -examples to this point. I've never met a man Who has made himself a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom.
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In other words, I've never met a man Who is come is substantially free from sexual temptation?
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Substantially free from desires for companionship Who's not I've never met that man who wanted to vote his life fully to bring in the gospel to unreach people groups
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I've not really met that man every guy who's ever come to me every guy who's ever come to me
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Wondering if he has the gift of singleness Is struggling with sexual sin
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Wants to be married Connelly lap because he knows it's every single one.
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Okay God in his providence may have some very exceedingly rare individuals like Paul That are that he wants to devote to the task of advancing the gospel in an unrestrained way
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But as you read through the Bible, you'll see the normalcy of marriage Presented and painstaking details and the normalcy of childbearing
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That is that is made over and over and over again So, yes, are there some people that God may be devoted to You know a life without kids.
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Yeah, that's the unit category, but you know what? There isn't a category of there isn't a category in the Bible of a couple who pursues intentional barrenness
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Now someone might respond to that by saying but not our not all couples are able to have kids Doesn't that mean that God intends for some couples to serve him better without kids and I would just look at you and say yes obviously
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God in his yeah, one of the consequences of the fall is that Barrenness is a real curse
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It's a real trial that some couples have to face significant couples in the Bible had to face that trial
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Well, doesn't that mean he intends for some couples to serve him better without children? Well, here's the thing Not all human beings have functional eyes either
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Do they I think about that for a second not all human beings have functional eyes is sight a personal choice
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Are we expecting the Holy Spirit to tell each individual person whether or not he wants them to use his eyes? Are we or should we assume that if he gave you eyes he intends you to use them?
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If your eyes stop working, that would be a consequence of the fall if your womb stops working
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That would be a consequence of the fall in a trial. Do we need a specific passage?
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Telling you that in your case you need to use your eyes because of the existence of blind people
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No, like the answer is no if God says be fruitful and multiply He expects you to be fruitful and multiply the fact that he has withheld children from some people
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That is not meant to be used as a moral imperative for you To pursue the curse of barrenness
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Do you understand? Only a perverse society prefers the consequence of the fall
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To the blessing of creation. There's no category or warrant for intentional barrenness within Marriage our confession makes this point a feeling to this very passage of marriage.
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It says marriage was ordained For the mutual help of a husband and wife for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue that's the marriage is ordained for procreation for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue meaning
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Like this is a legitimate occasion to bring forth children Okay, and finally the prevention of uncleanness which we're going to talk about next week
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We're trying to talk about these three points in order So many of the passages in the Bible simply stop making a sense that we assume that intentional childlessness is an legitimate option
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So many passages in the Bible I could give you hundreds of passages, but I I'm gonna give you a few
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Genesis 3 16 to the woman. He said I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing Notice the curse on woman is pain and childbearing because that's what she's designed to do
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That doesn't make any sense. If this is just an optional thing that maybe some woman can pursue and not
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Psalm 128 3 your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house Your children will be like olive shoots around your table notice the blessing given to faithfulness your
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Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house your children. I guess if you want them
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You know like that's the way. I don't know how to read these things in the language of they're all optional
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It's just normal expected First Timothy 2 12 I do not permit a woman to teach her exercise authority over man rather She is to remain quiet for Adam was first formed then
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Eve and Adam was not deceived But the woman was deceived and became a transgressor yet She will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self -control.
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I don't know how to read that if not a if not a passage which is teaching the expectation of childbearing for women
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Titus 2 3 older women likewise would be reverent in behavior not slanderers or slaves so much wine there to teach what is good and so train the young woman to love their husbands and Children if they want oh
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No the children I'd love their husbands and children because they would obviously have children right like Paul was aware of the fact that some women can't have children, but this is why is he speaking like this because that's normal the idea of a couple pursuing intentional barrenness is
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Scripturally insane First Timothy 5 14 so I'd have the younger widows marry to bear children to manage the household
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Give the adversary no occasion for Scranton slander the Bible teaches us over and over again
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The passage is clear. We know what it means The world is confused at this point and the pressure is coming from without it's not coming from within So notice what we said
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We've said that procreation is not optional given textual arguments.
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We responded to objections But procreation is not ultimate Okay Look procreation is participation in God's creative work as image bearers
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We are called to participate in God's creative work bringing forth life that reflects his image and reveals his glory
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God is the Creator God who created us and he's given us a part to play in his creation of new life
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He's given us a responsibility The point of procreation is not just simply to have children just to have children
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The acting of the having of children is a part of humanity's greater mission
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Which is part of God's creative plan to fill this whole earth full of people like the point here is just to say that we
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Don't live to the procreation of children. We live to the glory of God and God is glorified as The Creator In the way that he has designed us to allow us to participate in that creation with him
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So psalm 139 13 you form my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb creation is a miracle
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Every time we have a child We experience the miracle of new life
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Where we do what we're designed to do And yet at the same time God is work behind the scenes
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Bringing this creation into his fulfillment So procreation is participate in God's creative work, but procreation is not an end of itself
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Procreation is a means to an end of glorifying God So how does procreation glorify
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God? by God's image bearers very being faithful to their design and bringing forth life in his image
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God's image bearers give God glory So as an image bearer you represent
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God in the world You are meant you are meant to reveal him and to to have a mediated rule underneath him for all creation
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Every image bearer so think about this even unbelief believers unbelievers alike We are all engaged in this task of filling the world up full of people as much as we fight it
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We're filling the world up full of people. We can't stop our creative design to God's glory and then we are engaged in vocation
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We are subduing the earth. We're having dominion over the earth now. We exercise that dominion in poor ways because of sin
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But you look at that creation mandate, and you see that we're doing this creation mandate inescapably to God's glory
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According to our design even though we're doing everything we actively can to produce an extinction event
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To the glory of Satan right and that's what we're like. We're that's what we're trying to do, but like the issue is
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God made us and Us as we engage in this act
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We're glorifying God because we are tools that God made that are accomplishing his design
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Just as the animals do in the same way So how does procreation glorify God by image bearers being faithful to God's mission, right?
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By expanded God's mediated reign over all the earth Isaiah 11 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
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Lord as the waters cover the sea God is the glory -seeking
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God One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of the Father as we are engaging in this plan we Expanding God's glory over all the earth in one form or another
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But how does this procreation glorify God way glorifies? God's by Christians raising godly offspring who will be salt and light in a fallen world brothers and sisters
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We're the only ones who understand why you were here Like who we are we're the only ones with answers these questions.
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Who are you? Why are you here? What is your purpose? We're the only ones who know these things. You know what Christians by and large have been more faithful to this task than the world even though at times we
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Adopt the same kind of assumptions that the world adopts. We've been more faithful to this task and if we were you know
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The issue is like we think we're faithful just by having kids But we have responsibilities to actually raise them in the nurture and the counsel of the
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Lord If we would do a better job Raising our kids in the council of the
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Lord might find that The liberals don't have as many people to bring much at that point
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But here's the thing How does procreation glorify God by Christians raising godly offering who will be salt and light in a fallen world?
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Preserving agents in a fallen world and every child brothers and sisters will glorify God every child every child
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Every child will glorify God whether by some salvation or damnation It's a sobering thought but it's true every child will glorify
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God one way or another Every single time The Romans 921 has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for Dishonorable use what have
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God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power as endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction
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In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he is prepared beforehand for glory
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Even us whom he has called not to the Jews only but also To the
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Gentiles every child is an eternal soul. Not every child has an eternal soul. Every child is Eternal soul who will glorify
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God in one way or another You know
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God has appointed unto man wants to die and after that the judgment and these are sobering thoughts
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This blessing of procreation is an awesome responsibility To bring forth a new image bearer into the world
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You exist today you exist and you are here Because someone engaged in that awesome
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Task if you've ever had a child you look at your child and You want you realize very quickly that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and they are an amazing responsibility that God has given to you to influence for his glory and for their good
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We all face a day where we're going to stand before the Lord and give an account for what we've done
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And we're going to be judged on the basis of our belief
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And what Jesus has done for us? We have a great privilege
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Of engaging in this creation mandate, but this creation mandate is not an end in itself
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We're given two great commissions one would be the great commission of the
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Old Testament to Be fruitful multiply fill the earth full of people have dominion over the creation
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Given another great commission to which is to fill the place out full of disciples and there's no more
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Impressive responsibility that we're given than the responsibility of raising children and the discipline Instruction of the
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Lord. I pray that God would help us to be faithful to these things today. Amen Lord, we thank you for your word, which is life to us
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We know that you are there and that you are you have spoken that your purposes will stand We ask your forgiveness for the ways in which we despise your good gifts
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That we prefer Curses to blessings that we think that we're smarter than you that we know better than you that we can resist your plans and resist your purposes and Be okay