Dragons Abounding: The Great Errors Confronting the Church | Dr. Voddie Baucham

well good evening it is not often that I come to a missions conference and and assigned a topic that relates to slaying dragons but I'm excited to deal with this topic and these issues these dragons that we Face these errors that we face and and what I want to do is I want to focus on the passage of scripture that really puts um all of this in one place there are a number of Errors facing the church and when we talk about missions and the threat to our mission a lot of these errors sort of culminate in errors about manhood Womanhood marriage and the family so many of them Center there so with that in mind open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 5. and we want to look at some familiar passages of scripture but look at them perhaps through a different lens look at them through the lens of the errors and the attacks that are focused right here and the answers that we have for those errors and those attacks right here always also I think it's very important for us to look at this in terms of missions because oftentimes when we talk about missions we talk about the establishment of the Lord's church when we talk about advancing the Lord's Church especially when we talk about breaking new ground with the Lord's Church one of the things that we often fail to keep in mind is that when the gospel breaks forth in cultures not only are we dealing with people coming to faith in Christ and perhaps leaving you know other religions and and finding Christianity but inevitably we talk about dealing with family structures in the midst of broken sinful Pagan cultures that find this as foreign as the gospel and so this is this is important ground to cover as we go through here we'll look at these places where the wars and the errors are found we'll begin in verse 22. wives submit to your own husbands we just stop there we can please stop right there we're already at War we're already at war with our culture right I I didn't even finish the whole verse and we're already at war with our culture wives submit to your own husbands let me just point out right let me just make my point here number one this verse obviously when we read this we think about feminism right and feminism's war with the gospel feminism's war with marriage great but do we also consider the fact that in the modern neo-marxist culture where everything is seen through the lens of power relations and this oppressor oppressed paradigm that to the modern to the neo-marxist marriage is part of this oppressive paradigm it is essentially the oppression of women if you will so there we have this issue of feminism we have this issue of Marxism but then we also have this issue of same-sex marriage right here because we have we have wives submit to your own husbands wives and husbands a marriage is made up of wives and husband a marriage is made up of a wife and a husband are you smelling what I'm stepping in here's another Battleground a husband is only a husband if the husband has a wife and wife is only a wife if the wife has a so a wife can't have a wife and a husband watch this can't have a husband and and them's fighting words today they absolutely are so we haven't even finished the first verse and we see here that we're at War but dare we forget that we're also dealing with the idea of wives as women and husbands as men which means that we actually believe that there is something ontologically unique about manhood and about Womanhood and a God who made them made them male and female in His image again another Battleground okay before we even get out of verse 1. wives submit your own husbands as to the Lord there's the ultimate Battleground for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is ahead of the church his body and as himself its savior now as the church submits to Christ so also wives should submit everything to their own husbands husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself and Splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish will now now we're entering into another area of conflict and this area of conflict is any idea that people need to be made holy in anything that posits the idea that there could possibly be any sort of sinfulness or imperfection in any person other than a white male heterosexual cisgendered able-bodied native born but dot dot dot all the way down to Christian right that there could that there could possibly be a need for salvation sanctification correction a movement away from unrighteousness toward righteousness in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body therefore a man shall leave his father and mother while there are those binary terms again and hold fast to his wife here's what's interesting again a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife men have wives women don't and the two shall become one flesh this mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church here's why this Battleground matters this battleground of biblical manhood Womanhood and marriage matters because it's referring to Christ and the church it's a profound mystery that points us to the reality of Christ and the church points us to the reality of the Redemption that we find in the gospel so so we cannot abandon this ground however Let each one of you love his wife as himself and with the wife see that she respect her husband so there it is and what I want to do in the time that that I have allotted is to address these battles and to demonstrate how this text beautifully and clearly and unequivocally addresses these battles and why they're so incredibly important let's look at the first one wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord it's clear here that the Bible teaches us that there is order within the context of marriage that there is headship and submission within the context and the confines of marriage and wives are called to submit themselves to their own husbands as to the Lord this is not something that we ought ever to back away from although many have backed away from it and so we have a a two-front war on this issue number one we we have a war with the culture at large that hates the patriarchy the patriarchy that's how the educated people refer to it they hate the patriarchy because the patriarchy is evil and so we have the world out there we have the culture out there that that hates the patriarchy and so we have you know women for example who decide that you know because they hate the patriarchy when they get married they're not going to take their husband's name right I'm an independent woman I don't take the name of that man I'll keep my father's name instead so that's and so so there's that there's that Battleground and and we need to deal with that we need to address that we will but there's another Battleground and that's the Battleground within our own camp of the people who've now decided that because the culture out there is at war with the patriarchy what we'll do is we'll say no no no no no no no that whole patriarchy thing that's a misreading of the text that's not biblical Christianity that's that's fundamentalism right that that that's that's those people over there who who hate women and you know who who want to dominate women that that's not the way we see it in the Bible they argue that basically this is a or male headship the concept of mailhead Chip is a product of the fall and because it's a product of the Fall that when we find ourselves in Christ we no longer experience this kind of headship listen to the Evangelical feminist View and that's what they call themselves not me the Evangelical feminist view of Genesis 3 16. Genesis 3 16 by the way to the woman he said I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing and pain you should bring forth children your desires shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you but listen to this from Ada Spencer and Beyond The Curse her curse now was to be ruled perversely to long for her husband and he to rule over her she would want to be dominated by her husband and he would submit to this desire hey I don't write the mail I just deliver it right she would want to be dominated by her husband and he would submit to this desire God does not command Adam to rule or govern his wife rather the curse is Eaves the ruling is a consequence of Eve's longing after the fall okay same phrase is used in the next chapter Genesis Chapter 4 verses 5-7 so Cain was very angry and his face fell the Lord said to Cain why are you angry and why has your face Fallen if you do well will you not be accepted and if you do not do well sin is crouching at the door its desire is for you but you must rule over it so according to Ada Spencer what's happening is sin is longing to be dominated by Cain and Cain has to submit to sin's desire the Council on biblical equality sounds like a good thing right listen to their statement here Point number one scripture is our authoritative guide for Faith Life and practice amen hallelujah praise the Lord and I want to get my amen there because it's downhill from here two patriarchy and then in parenthesis male dominance right so they have to redefine patriarchy right patriarchy means male leadership male headship patriarchy patriarchal cultures right men are the heads of their their family you you you you you define people's lineage through that that male lineage that male headship that's patriarchy they say patriarchy male dominance in Princess is not a Biblical ideal but a result of sin patriarchy is not a Biblical ideal but a result of sin and again they're defining patriarchy as male dominance patriarchy is an abuse of power taking from females what God has given them their dignity and freedom their leadership and even their lives how about that listen to this from the United Nations the family is an institution that has historically been a stronghold of patriarchy and embodied men's Social Power and domination over women patriarchy in its wider definition means the manifestation and institutionalization of male dominance over women and children in the family and the extension of male dominance over women in society in general that's how they're defining patriarchy and so Evangelical feminists are right along with you know the U.N and liberal you know institutions and and everyone else in in redefining this idea of patriarchy redefining this idea of male headship as this sinful thing and their argument is that that headship is something that comes as the result of the Fall and now that we are in Christ that curse has been reversed that that's that's the argument right again that's what I've read and I just want to make sure that you understand that because I got questions because if you remember the first part of the curse for Eve was pain in childbearing so if they're right and the curse has been reversed why why why are acting like it hurts Christian ladies we should be able to find out who's really saying the Maternity Ward right foreign it's absolutely ridiculous not to mention the fact that you have Adam's headship before the fall the man was made before the woman male headship the woman was made for the man male headship I will make him a helper suitable for him male headship the woman was brought to the man male headship the woman was named by the man twice male headship and in case that's not enough in Romans chapter 5 Paul makes it very clear that sin entered the world through one not couple but one man even though she ate first sin entered the world through Adam why male headship also known as patriarchy please use the word people please use the word don't run from the word embrace the word if for no other reason then that it just messes with them so much there's another way to people you try to get around it the Evangelical feminists also try to make a a more sophisticated argument here from the text and go something like this you know in in the Greek New Testament you have the verb in 22 borrowed from 21. and so in 22 you just read wives to your own husbands right the the submission is inferred from verse 21. and that's really important because in verse 21 of Ephesians 5 it says submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ so their argument is that based on that that what you have is mutual submission in the New Testament again and this error is it's it's it's everywhere they're getting not everywhere everywhere that's beyond everywhere okay it's everywhere people he has verse 21 you got Mutual submission so God calls us to Mutual submission several problems with that problem number one is the verb that's used there the verb that's used it's a military term it's a military term for submission and here's a news flash I don't know if you've ever been in the middle you don't even have to be in the military to know this fact that I'm about to tell you in the military submission Works in Only One Direction amen it works in Only One Direction there's another issue and that is verse 21 is the end of a paragraph verse 22 starts a new paragraph it's it's the end of a sentence in the end of a paragraph and I don't care what language you speak you can have a language that goes from left to right or right to left but you do not have languages that go from Back to Front you don't start at the end of a paragraph you have to start at the beginning of a paragraph which means that if we're going to understand verse 21 we have to go all the way back to verse 15. and this is important because it's going to incorporate a whole lot of these other errors that we're dealing with so when you go back to verse 15 an amazing thing happens in beginning at verse 15 it's gonna it's gonna open up like a telescope you have three contrasts on the third contrast you have three commands and on the third command you have three contexts okay three contrasts on the third contrast three commands on the third command you have three contexts all right just won't hurt let's look but it's really important because it's gonna it's gonna open up even more of these errors that we that we deal with verse 15. look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise making the best use of the time because the days are evil that's a contrast not this but that right now look at verse 17. therefore do not be foolish but understand what the word of the Lord is right not this but that that's a contrast it's contrast number two here's contrast number three verse 18. do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the spirit there's the third contrast right we following okay there's a third country on the third contrast you get three commands and they're related to the third contrast look at verse 19. so he says be filled with the spirit what's that look like addressing one another in Psalms hymns spiritual songs singing making Melody to the Lord with all your heart this is a this is an Evidence of the Spirit-filled life verse 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ worshipful prayerfully thankful this is this is this is a Spirit-filled life and then thirdly submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ this is evidence your submission to the authority that God puts in your life is evidence that you are yielding to the spirit of God now on the third contrast we got three commands on the third command we get three contexts watch this 5 22 wives submit to your own husbands ask to the Lord 6-1 children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right six five slaves obey your Earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would Christ 521 is not the umbrella for 522. it's the umbrella umbrella for 522 all the way down through six nine and and that introduces another set of errors and controversies look at six one children will be your parents in the Lord for this is right we hate children in our culture we do we hate them we hate them so much we murder them in the womb but we'll get back to that let's go back to where we were in 522. [Music] so we see that there's this error there's this two-pronged error people are at war with us they're at war with us because they hate male headship their war and they hate male headship because they hate God's headship they're at War and they hate male headship because they're in Rebellion against the lord they're in Rebellion against Christ and because their desire is to blaspheme this glorious picture of the relationship between Christ and his bride the church but the text could not be clearer but let me also point this out wives submit to your own husbands ask to the Lord the Bible doesn't say all women submit to all men amen somebody the Bible doesn't say all women submit to all men this is about order within the context of the marriage relationship my wife is called to submit to me to me as her husband this is not about value it's about order anything with two heads is a monster amen I always say if you if you find someone with two heads you either kill it or if you can catch it put it behind glass make people pay to come see it right this is about order not value again since he uses this military term I think it's appropriate to use a military illustration here if you have if you have two people in in in a unit in military unit and one of them is an enlisted man he's a sergeant he's been there for 10 years but the other one is an officer right you got a young Lieutenant who's been there for for for 10 months well who's more valuable it's not a trick question it's the enlisted man who's been there for 10 years amen it is but in terms of order who's Superior the officer who's been there for 10 months or 10 weeks or whatever and for the sake of order when the officer gives the order what does the more valuable enlisted man do salute and execute and if he doesn't everything breaks down because it's not a question of value it's a question of order women are not less valuable than men when when Adam sees Eve he says this is at last bone of my bones Flesh of My Flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man these are statements of her equal worth and value and standing before God it's incredibly ironic that cultures impacted by biblical Christianity are the places in the world with the freest safest most protected and cherished women on earth also the place where the women complain the most about the patriarchy the words of that Theologian Forrest Gump that's all I had to say about that it's not about value it's about order and then it says wife submit your own husbands as to the Lord wives aren't called to submit to their husbands because their husbands deserve it have earned it or are worthy of it but in spite of the fact that we'll never deserve it we'll never earn it and will never be worthy of it because this is about submission to the Lord because remember there is this glorious imagery of the relationship between Christ and his bride the church my husband has had his wife even as Christ is the head of the church his body and is himself its savior now as the Church of Mr Christ so also wives should submit and everything to their husbands so so there's that issue and and we are confronting great error here on this issue this issue of biblical Womanhood and the true worth and value of women and and I think what we're also seeing is we're seeing the Monstrous results of a culture that no longer views women as the weaker vessel to be protected which is why you have Aaliyah Thomas who was able to swim for the men's team at Penn for three years right and then declared that he's no longer a man but a woman and then all of a sudden go from middle of the pack to a national champion and take the crown away from an actual woman and then to literally add insult to injury be proclaimed by some as as a woman of the year or Fallon Fox this is a while back but Fallon Fox who's an MMA fighter yeah you know where this one's going huh an MMA fighter who underwent a transition and got into the ring with a woman and fractured her skull or a young man in California who assaulted a woman some years back in a bathroom in a public public bathroom and later on he goes to trial for this assault and when he goes to trial for this assault he decides that suddenly he's going to transition and he's going to identify as a woman why is this important because the assault happened when he was 17. his conviction happened when he was 23 because he was 17 when the assault happened he went into a juvenile facility and because he identified as a woman this 23 year old man went into a juvenile female facility this is what we this is what we in the name of equality for women we brutalize them rather than protect them verse 25. and and in verse 25 I'm just I'm just gonna I'm gonna read this the reason I'm going to read this just I just want you to hear it I just want it to wash over you because our culture says that our perspective is wicked and it's evil and it's detrimental to women it says that our view is the problem and we've got we've got Christians who are now trying to back away from patriarchy back away from from male headship because we're ashamed we're ashamed of this husbands love your wives husbands love your wives we could we could stop right there say amen and sing to him and already be better than the world amen because the world's not saying that the world's not saying you know what men love your wives the world is saying just take all you can from women use them text says husbands love your wives love your wives as Christ loved the church even it's even defining it right because we don't we don't even we don't even know what that is okay we we we've succumbed to these Greco-Roman myths of even what love is so the text is going to gonna clarify that husbands love your wives not he doesn't say you have to have you know these whatever love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself and Splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish in the same way like this this is how husbands should love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself She's Not Just Mine she's me for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body that's what the world says is hatred toward women offensive domination and abuse of women and if it is then that means Christ is an abuser of his bride the church that that's what they're saying why am I why am I making that argument verse 31 therefore a man should leave his father and mother how fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh this mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church so if this is a picture of evil Wicked patriarchy then the gospel is a picture of wicked evil patriarchy and we have blasphemed Christ's love for his bride the church that's why we can't give this ground that's why this matters but when when we switch this around and change this up and it it becomes a free-for-all and you can Define it any number of ways that you want to then what we're doing is ultimately we're blaspheming as glorious and beautiful picture of the love that Christ has for his bride the church that's why this is so wicked and so sinister you can search the world over and you will not find anywhere a more glorious and beautiful life-giving picture of the relationship between men and women you're not going to find women more cherished and yet our culture is at war with this verse 33 however LED each one of you love his wife as himself let the wife see that she respect her husband now let's go to 6-1 and let's look at the other thing the other error children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right we've turned this on its head first of all your children are not yours children obey the state for this is right we've even moved from that children obey your feelings for this is right and then on top of that we say parents obey your children's feelings for this is right so if Johnny comes to you and says that Johnny is now Susie it is your job not to instruct Johnny that he's not Susie but to instruct Susie that you affirm her as Susie that's your job your job is to obey to submit to what it is that your child says that he or she is sounds like the same Twisted logic of the Evangelical feminists and it is parents not only do you no longer have the duty and obligation but it's being argued that you don't have the right to lead your parent your children in this regard or many others in fact it is seen as an act of abuse to do so verse 2. honor your father and mother this is the first commandment with a promise again this is hugely problematic because the idea of children submit obeying their parents and children honoring their parents this idea reeks of patriarchy this idea reeks of hierarchy because it is patriarchy and it is hierarchy but to the world that we're living in this world gone mad patriarchy and hierarchy are Evil by definition that you that it may go well with you and you may live long in the land and then it gets worse look at verse 4. fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord now we've lost our ever loving Minds teach your children what to believe and teach your children how to behave essentially that's what's said here parents it's your job to teach your children what to believe and teach your children how to behave and in the day and age in which we live this is tantamount to child abuse in the day and age in which we live our job is to listen to our children and follow their instructions if it even if it leads them all the way to hell and the only thing that you can do be condemned in this regard tell them that the hell that they're headed for is hell these are the battlegrounds these are the battlegrounds this is where the war is being fought these are errors that are actually creeping in and we have people who name the name of Christ who are beginning to Parrot these things and who are beginning to condemn those who call it out who say that there's just two Sexes there's just two genders who say that marriage is between one man and one woman a husband can't have a husband a wife can't have a wife who say that one of the defining characteristics of marriage is the potential for the union to produce children oh again I mean this is this is this is this is crazy talk and people try to make ridiculous arguments oh oh well yeah well you want to argue you know male female marriage because you know the potential for reproduction but you know what about couples who are who are Beyond reproduction no no what we're arguing is not that every marriage is going to produce children we we know that that's not always the case but what we're arguing is that when God designed man and God designed women he designed them in such a way that man and woman comprises a union that can reproduce and bring life and therefore he instructs us as to what marriage is supposed to be comprised of those two pieces that come together and we know that the rightness of those two pieces coming together because when they come together by definition they're the only Union that can produce life that's what we're arguing and again it's a war zone my children are my children that's a war zone my children are not Wards of the state it's a war zone my job is to instruct my children not to take instruction from them it's a war zone if Johnny tells me that he's Susie I'm going to tell Johnny no actually you're not you're Johnny listen I have more tolerance and I do I do have some tolerance I just contrary to all the rumors right I do have tolerance and I do want people to like me I get that one too I'm not a sociopath I do want people to like me if they don't it's okay but I do I do I do want people like me but but but I have more tolerance if Johnny comes to me and says I'm Batman Johnny comes to me and says that and he go you know I'm like really I'm the Joker riddle me this Batman we can go there right Johnny comes to me and says I'm Susie I'm going you might be Batman but you're not Susie and it would be as ridiculous for me to follow through on the Johnny you're really Susie take this drug have this operation as it would be for me to follow up on the Johnny you're really Batman let's alter your life let's alter your body chemistry let's offer let's alter your body itself [Music] and then let's make everyone else around you be in on it or be condemned thank you these are just some of the errors that we're facing but they're critical and I want you to notice that they're they're all centering around the same place this god-ordained institution that has been given to us not only for the perpetuation of the race but also as a living breathing God honoring Christ exalting picture of the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and the bride for whom he laid down his life the bride for whom he lived a perfect sinless life in her place and in her Stead the bride on whom he imputed his righteousness the bride whose sinfulness he took upon himself whose penalty he took upon himself on the cross and died was crucified and buried and raised again on the third day to vindicate her that's the picture that our culture is blaspheming and calling us to blaspheme along with them and some Christians have decided that they will oblige it's a bridge too far we have a beautiful glorious truth let us Proclaim it Faithfully let us live it Faithfully let us defend it Faithfully for our savior's sake and for the sake of generations to come let's pray father we thank you and praise you for your goodness and your kindness and your mercy toward us we recognize that we are in the midst of a pitch battle but this battle is essentially not ours the world is not at war with us it's at war with you and it is only because we're yours that they were against us Grant by your grace that we might be faithful Grant by your grace that we might be bold and courageous Grant by your grace that we might be a glorious beautiful Winsome picture even in the midst of our great opposition for we pray these things and ask these things in Christ's name and for his sake amen [Applause]

Channel: Christ Church

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Keywords: Christ Church, ChristKirk, Doug Wilson, Douglas Wilson, Canon Press, CrossPolitic, Toby Sumpter, Moscow Idaho, Moscow, Psalm Singing, Reformed, Calvinist, Reformed theology, CREC, Blog and Mablog

Id: NfE_sBV17gs

Length: 50min 50sec (3050 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 27 2023