Preaching the Word
Preaching the Word
An Identity Crisis: Overcoming Cultural Confusion with Divine Truth
Has the church lost its influence due to a failure to uphold and live out Biblical truth? This episode tackles the contentious issue of the identity crises in our modern society, particularly the confusion surrounding gender and sexual identity. Join us as we scrutinize how media, government, and educational institutions contribute to this growing confusion, and how historical shifts in the psychological community's stance on sexuality have played a role. This discussion emphasizes the urgent need for repentance and a return to seeking divine guidance to restore the church's pivotal role in calling people to find peace in Jesus Christ.
In this compelling episode, we unravel the deceptive narratives used to justify sexual sin and emphasize the profound importance of understanding one's identity in Christ. Learn about the transformative power of being sealed with the Holy Spirit and the decisive victory over sin and condemnation brought by Jesus' sacrifice. We encourage believers to embrace their new identity as God's children, living free from guilt and shame, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to overcome sin. Discover how applying these biblical truths can help you confidently walk in faith as Christ defines you.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Thank you for joining me again today. Today we're going to dive into what I believe is one of the major issues facing both our church and many people in our nation. It's my intention to help you drive a stake into perhaps what is one of the devil's greatest strongholds how much have you thought about your own identity holds? How much have you thought about your own identity, the things you use to identify who you are as a person? We don't have to look very far today to find people in an identity crisis. Everywhere we turn in the media and in government propaganda, we see an agenda that's being pushed for multiple genders. We hear stories of a man named Joe that wants to change his name to Joanne.
Speaker 1:And the worst part of this identity crisis is that our children are being indoctrinated into confusion about basic principles, and even in our public schools, which are meant to teach children about facts in science and point our children to a sense of right and wrong in civil life. And this identity confusion is simply just one more step down a slippery slope of identity crisis that's been taking place for decades now in the Western culture. Crisis that's been taking place for decades now in the Western culture. It actually shouldn't surprise Christians that the world is lost in sin, but what should surprise us is how little impact the church seems to have on the culture. The church is to be the light of the world, and one of the greatest areas the church has failed to stand firm on is sexual purity and traditional marriage. Let me give you one example of how our secular culture dismissed sexual sin altogether and ask yourself how has this penetrated into the church? How has this permeated into my own life? In 1968, the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual for Mental Disorders labeled homosexuality a mental disorder. Only five years later, in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality as a mental disorder and they replaced it with sexual orientation disturbance, making it less offensive. Then, in 1987, homosexuality fell completely out of their diagnostic and statistic manual. Psychology actually began to affirm all sexual lifestyle choices. Today, modern psychology works not only to affirm but even promote all types of perverse sexual lifestyles and choices of people. My friends, our nation is in a state of identity crisis, but, worse yet, this has permeated into the church. If you're like me, you have a tendency to blame all of this on the government, on one or more political parties, but the real issue rests firmly with the church.
Speaker 1:2 Chronicles 7.14 reads If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Those who've been chosen by God must lay down their proud, self-centered lives. They must pray to the Lord and seek His face. They must repent of their sin and they must yield to the will of God in their life. And then, and only then, will God heal the land. I received a call just a few weeks ago from a brother in the Lord and he said that in his church they actually brought in a psychologist to teach them during a special session. To teach them during a special session. This psychologist was to teach them how they were supposed to love the LGBTQ community, and his comment was well, of course we know we're supposed to love our enemies, but you know that wasn't the message this psychologist was pushing. The message the psychologist was propagating in our church was to affirm the LGBTQ lifestyle, and that is exactly what modern psychology has been doing for years now. My friends, the best way we can love anyone is not to accept or promote their sin, is not to accept or promote their sin, but it's to call them to repent of their sin and turn to the living Jesus Christ. Then pray for them. God will never heal our land with the state of the church the way it is. It is we, the church, who must repent. We must seek the face of God. We must turn from our wicked and adulterous ways.
Speaker 1:I want to define for you at a very basic level what an identity crisis is. What does our dictionary say an identity crisis is? The first definition is a personal psychological conflict, especially in adolescence, that involves confusion about one's social role, often a sense of loss of continuity to one's own personality. The second definition is just as intriguing. It says a state of confusion in an institution or an organization regarding its nature or direction. My friends, these two definitions define everything we see happening today.
Speaker 1:Not only are people confused about who they are at a very basic level of God's created order, but our institutions, like the school, like our counselors and even the church have become so confused they no longer recognize their purpose and how they are to give proper directions to a healthy life to people who are confused. And, worst of all, at many levels the church has become confused as to its purpose. The purpose of calling people to repent of their sin and come into the peace that passes understanding in Jesus Christ. The purpose of pointing people to a clear direction, the way of Christ, to come out of the devil's sinful and abusive lifestyle and come into the glorious presence and life of Jesus Christ. People everywhere today seem to be in a constant search for their identities. They're continually in a mode of changing personalities, changing friends. They're searching for something solid to hold on to. They're searching for something solid to hold on to, beloved. Why is it that they don't see the church and the people of God as something solid, a place of truth and of grace, a place where we call people to repent of their sin and come into a healthy life with healing and forgiveness?
Speaker 1:Many people spend their entire lives shackled to some identity that was thrust on them in school, perhaps by a bully or the cruelty of other children. They live out their life conforming to an identity that was meant to shame them so that others could feel better about themselves, while yet people like that bully who seem so confident of their false narrative as they force on other people their lies so they can feel like they're in control and accepted, but yet they themselves are only doing so because they live in fear. They live in fear of losing control. They live in fear of losing control. They live in fear of not being accepted. They're very insecure and have a shallow life. Today, it's not just bullies that thrust cruel identities on children, but it is our institutions themselves, the public schools, even the church. They're forcing cruel narratives on the children so that they can feel self-righteous and they can feel good about themselves.
Speaker 1:Now I don't want to continue going on and on at length about the various forms of evil and dysfunction that are so rampant today everywhere, but we do need to make this issue clear, and I want to address two specific issues that are often conflated in our culture. First, I want to touch on the issue of gender. Scripture is clear there are only two genders, and gender was created by God and are only two genders. And gender was created by God and he defines it biologically. Genesis 127 reads so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him Male and female. He created them. God is the creator of all things, and the very biological differences of a man and a woman declare the image of God as a man and woman come together in a covenant of marriage. The image of God is displayed through their relationship. That's why marriage and gender roles are constantly under attack by the devil and the world, throughout every age, by the prince of the power of this evil age. Marriage and gender comes under attack. Second, I want to touch quickly on race, because quite often the issue of gender equality improperly gets equated with race equality.
Speaker 1:In an attempt to justify sexual sin, satan uses a false narrative. God has created all races of mankind. We all come from the same bloodline of Adam and Eve. You might say there's only one race, the human race. Acts 17.26 reads and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. God did not create every human being the same. He made each of us different and unique and, praise the Lord, he did In the church. God gives different gifts to different people, but in our human bodies God gives us different colored skin, different heights, different weights. God creates his creation to be diverse, but he desires unity among us in the purity of his gospel. So, as believers in Jesus Christ, it should be clear that, while God does not want us to discriminate against one another based on skin color, height or body structure, we must stand firm in the truth against what Scripture does say is sinful. Now that we've clarified those two scriptural truths, let's talk about the healing that God brings.
Speaker 1:Struggling with our identity isn't just something that the LGBTQ community faces. We all deal with understanding our identity at some level. How often do people worry about climbing the job ladder because they believe that their job defines them? How often do people believe the more trophies they get and the more sports they win, the greater they are? Or how about getting your next home? Because your house somehow defines you? Or your next car? Or your next hair color? It's not that having a good job or a nice home are sinful, but truly, if we understood who we were in Christ, if we understood who we were as God's children, how much more would we be content where God has us right now as we worked out our lives for the glory of God in our life. What does scripture say about your identity as a believer? How does God see you? How should you see yourself? Understanding our identity in Christ gives us a foundation to protect us against the many attacks of the enemy.
Speaker 1:I have outlined three points I want you to take home with you today. The first I want you to understand that you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. As a believer in Jesus Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment we believe. When John the Baptist was preaching, he once said I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, the people of God would travel miles and miles to go to the temple where God dwelt. Even once they got there, they couldn't see him, for God resided in a special room known as the Holy of Holies. His spirit would hover over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, and this was God's way of interacting with his people for many hundreds of years. But when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, the veil that partitioned the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, and just to give you some idea of what that would take, the veil was 30 feet high, it was four inches thick and, at the very moment of our Lord's death, the record of sin that stood against us with its legal demands. It was canceled Because the mercy seat no longer rested in a holy of holies. The mercy seat rested at the cross. It was here at the cross that Christ made a new way for us to come directly before the throne of God and under the new covenant. God no longer resides in a physical temple. He resides instead in the temple of each and every believer.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 1.13 says In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Did you hear that? Let's read it again when you believed in him. Who is him? It's speaking of Jesus. When you believed in Jesus, what does it say? It says Now that my friends is a promise with the promised Holy Spirit. Now that my friends is a promise you can hold on to. Have you ever watched a movie where someone uses wax and then they seal a letter with a metal seal or sometimes with their ring? Kings and nobles would often use such a seal to ensure that a letter was not read, that it safely reached its destination without being tampered with. You, my brothers and sisters, have been sealed so that you arrive safely at your destination and there is nothing in all creation that can tamper with the work of Christ.
Speaker 1:The second thing I want you to understand is that you are forgiven. Romans 8.1 says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There was a decisive victory in which Jesus Christ overcame the devil at the cross of Calvary, and it puts the believer in that same place of victory. Jesus took your sin upon him at the cross, and now his righteousness is given to you through faith in him. Jesus fulfilled the full requirement of the law and he died in your place for sin. And now, through God's grace, through God's favor and through your faith in Jesus Christ and in him alone, the believer is free of condemnation. You're forgiven your past sin, your present sin, any future sin. They're forgiven.
Speaker 1:What is there in all creation that can separate you from that reality? Can demons? Can your family? Can your work? Could a secular or even communist government? Let me ask you a harder question Do you think your sin can separate you from God? I know that sometimes it sure feels like it doesn't it, because the guilt and the shame that come when we sin against God can often keep us from moving ahead with the Lord. I want to talk to you about that today.
Speaker 1:What does the scriptures tell us? 1 John 1.9 says what does the scriptures tell us? 1 John 1.9 says If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need to be very clear Now that we have been given this amazing grace of God, we should not continue in sin. Rather, we should be obedient to the one who saved us. We should stop living in that shame and guilt, because that's a cycle of constantly sinning against the one who loved us. But what did we just learn? Christ himself, god himself, has opened a way so that you could boldly come before the Father with your sin. It is true, when we sin against God, it removes our fellowship with God and we can feel that, but it doesn't remove our relationship with him. We are still his child.
Speaker 1:If you've sinned against God and you're being told by the devil or other people that you're worthless, this is just one too many times. You need to beat yourself up some more. That's the accuser, that's the devil. Confess your sin, be honest with God. Be honest with other people, especially anyone you've sinned against. It doesn't even matter whether the other person acknowledges your confession. The spiritual reality is this, that the atoning work of Jesus at the cross was, once and for all, one sacrifice for all sin, for all time.
Speaker 1:If God, the Father, did not spare his own son, but he was willing to give him up for us, do you think that the Father somehow is unable to keep those who believe in his son, confess your sin, live in an honest, loving relationship with Father God? Romans 8, 33-37 says God, who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger, or the sword, as it is written, for your sake, a conqueror through him who loved you. The final thing I want you to understand if you've been born again by the Spirit of God, you are a new creation.
Speaker 1:It is not the things of this world that define a believer. What truly defines a believer is their relationship with God, being born of the Spirit of God. If we're born of the Holy Spirit, we are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. The Greek word translated in this verse is kainos. It means something that's freshly made, unlike anything else. When we believe on Jesus Christ, we are made an entirely new creation. On Jesus Christ, we are made an entirely new creation, just as when God created the heavens and the earth. He made the heavens and the earth out of nothing, and so he does with a new believer.
Speaker 1:Someone in one of my Bible studies once testified when we're born again, we see everything different because we've been changed. As a believer, our identity should be in how God sees us, not in how other people see us. We need to remember who we are in Christ Jesus. In Christ, we've been born again. Our eyes have been opened, we've been set apart and we're forgiven. The new creation is to have a mindset surrendered to the Spirit of God, focused on the things of God, and we're to put to death the things of this world, the things of our flesh. A simple way that I like to say this is more of him, less of me.
Speaker 1:Listen to how the Apostle Peter puts this. In 2 Peter 1.4. He says by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, telling us that through the promises of God, we become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in this world. What promise is Peter talking about? What promise makes us partakers of a divine nature and helps us to escape the corruption of this world? Well, of course he's talking about the promised Holy Spirit. And with the promised Holy Spirit we are partakers with the divine nature. We've been born again. The Holy Spirit changes our inner desire and our spirit is made alive through the Spirit of God. While we used to have desires only to serve our flesh, our self and our pride, the Holy Spirit of God changes that in us. It creates a new heart. We have a genuine desire to serve God and serve others out of love.
Speaker 1:Romans 8.11 reads If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit who dwells in you. Take careful note, friend. This isn't talking about having an appearance of godliness. It's not talking about wanting to follow God's law so that you can appear to be godly to other people. It's talking about how the Spirit of God brings your mortal body to life, how your identity should be found in knowing that we're a new creation. It's about knowing that the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ bring righteousness into our life. This righteousness doesn't come through something we do. It comes through what Jesus Christ has done and is going to do in us.
Speaker 1:The true believer's spirit is converted, it's changed. It now desires to serve God. It desires to serve others because the love that Christ has shown them we love because he first loved us, we love because he first loved us, and that same Spirit of God will give us victory over sin in our lives. Being united with Christ, trusting in the forgiveness of sin, we are no longer slaves to it. Romans 8, 14 and 15 read For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Speaker 1:Romans 8, 14 and 15 read the power that sin and the law once had over you has been dismantled by Jesus Christ. It's been dismantled at the cross. Christ has disarmed the power of Satan and he's put the demons to open shame. Now, through faith, a believer is free to come to God, to confess their sins honestly and openly to God, to live in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, without guilt or shame. My friends, as you consider these great truths, apply them to your life, apply them to your life, apply them to your identity. Walk knowing who you are. In Christ, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. You are a new creation and you are forgiven. Let Christ define who you are. God bless you this week.