As I begin this teaching a statement that the Apostle Paul made which is found in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 comes to mind. For although we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. In order for the word of God to have control in and over us we must come to the place where we learn to love God and His word more than we love being “free” to do our own will. This is not a thing that any one can accomplish for you, nor is it a thing that you can accomplish no your own, but only as we surrender to the Lord, and He does this work in us, can we come to a place of surrender. I can not speak for any other, but I wish to be a person whose has learned to think and judge according to Christ's standards, not those of the world around me. Not even by religious standards, but God's alone.
The topic at hand today is birth control. I am not a scientist or a sociologist that I will endeavor to communicate from their perspective. And although I am a male person I will not endeavor to speak from what might be called a man's point of view, or from from what I might perceived to be a woman's point of view, but from the point of view of a man of God, a servant of our Lord Jesus. So, I will speak in His name, according to the wisdom that He has granted to me.
God our creator, holy and wise created all things both visible and invisible. (Col. 1:15-16, Rev. 4:11) Obviously then this includes all human life, both male and female. In that He is wise, all things that He created He did so with particular purpose. Now I believe we can only barely begin to fathom all the reasoning behind why God created us as He did, but this I do believe. That every detail of the human person has purpose behind it, and that when we align our selves, by the Holy Spirit to both His laws and promises then we are brought to a place where our total being, spirit, soul and body will properly reflect the person and purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the sexuality of the human person is meant to be instructed by the Holy Scriptures, and not human reasoning. Human reasoning can not begin to fathom the greatness of the purposes of God for us. Therefore it will lead us in paths that are far short of God's purpose, and perhaps entirely contrary to His purposes.
Highlights of personal testimony
First of all before I go to the meat of this teaching may I interject some of my personal testimony. Having come to the the faith of Jesus as a young teenager and by His grace having received a love of the Word of God. I married at 24 years of age, and was at that point unsure and confused in regards to the subject of birth control. The Scripture appeared to teach one thing and the church another. My bride readily accepted the idea that we had every right to “control birth” with anything short of abortion. The which we held to be murder of the unborn. I was not so sure of this as what she appeared to be. I held for a very long time in the back of my mind the commandment of the Lord to Noah and his sons, which I believed was past down to all men through these ancient men, which was to be fruitful and multiply. Which seemed to me to be saying, “do not stop the children from coming, but rather bring them on!” The traditions of the church in both passive and direct ways taught me that this commandment, as well as many others, had no control over me, but was only for that time and that place. It was not until after many years that by the instruction of the Lord I began to see that the “old testament” laws are not void, but very much in place, and serve as pictures of heavenly realities. As this revelation began to come to me so did understanding in regards to what is called birth control.
The Creator made mankind in His image, as a picture of Himself and the Church. Keep that foundational understanding upfront in your reasoning, for it will guide you into the truth in regards to so very many things. It is one of the very first expressions of truth found in the Scripture. Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness......verse 27....So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, both male and female created he them.” Therefore it imperative for all people to know His laws and obey them, for in obeying His word we conform to His image in the behavior of our lives. Yes, I realize and I praise God that when I (we) was born again my inner man was fully and completely recreated after the image of Christ, but the behavior of my everyday person must be brought, as it is said by Isaiah the prophet, “line upon line, precept upon precept”, into a place of compliance. When I do not obey God, the actions of my life give out a slanderous testimony. When I obey God the actions of my life give a truthful and proper testimony concerning God. The actions of the lives either testify the truth, or give a slanderous testimony.
God's seed is pictured in the seed of the man
It is said in Hebrews 12:9 that God is the father of spirits. Meaning that He is the father of all those born from above. (born again). His word, which is His seed, is sown into the world by means of the Church, which is His wife. ( this is an allegorical truth, for God who is a spirit does not take a natural woman as a wife, but is symbolic of the relationship He has with the those He calls to Himself in Christ, Ephesians 5:23-33, Isaiah 62:5b, Jeremiah 3:14, 1 Co.6:17) The word of God which is in the Church, by various means is sown into the hearts of men, and when faith is added, the new creation is born. A new creation in Christ comes forth, a child of God, who is also a child of the Church. So you see, God is our father, and the church is our mother. Peter testified of this in 1 Peter 2:23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
Let us pose a question. Would Yahweh, that is, God Almighty, would He destroy the very seed He has sown? Would He sow His seed into the world on one hand and on the other hand destroy it so that it can not bring forth that purpose for which it was sown in the first place? I think not, and apparently Isaiah the prophet did not think so, for he said in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Jesus spoke of the word of God in a parable teaching that there are four basic responses in the hearts of men in regards to God's word, but He never noted that in any case God's word was made void, or ineffective. (Mat. 13:1-23) My testimony to you is that God does not put forth His word to then destroy it, but rather that it should see its full purpose. In like manner the man's seed is to be sown without restriction, for it is a natural picture of the eternal seed of God. To destroy the seed of man is to give the picture of destroying the seed of God. This ought not to be so.
What happens when the seed is received and germinates?
New life comes forth, but just as in the case of a woman with child the child comes forth only at the discomfort and labor of its mother. For although the woman may have gloried in the comfort and passion of her lover, ( which is a picture of the believer glorying in the presence of the Lord) the carrying of the child to birth and then the delivery will take effort and endurance, but if done with the hope of the child that is coming forth, it can be a process of joy although in, and though affliction. Thus it is with the one born of the spirit. It is by the labor and affliction of prayer, evangelism, the testimony of godly lives, that the convert to the Lord Jesus will be brought forth. The Mother will pay a price. For as soon as Zion travailed , she brought forth her children. (Isaiah 66:8b.)
After birth the child and mother are bound to each other, and the life of the child is dependent on the care of the mother. This too is a picture of the new believer. Having been born of the seed of the Holy One, the new convert must learn to drink of the sincere milk of the Word which comes by means of the “breast” of the Church. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:2-3) Again is Isaiah the prophet speaks of this mystery, and speaks of it in the picture of a woman nursing her child, and holding the child on her hip, and on her knees. ( Isaiah 66: 10-13) Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, (the Church) and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem (the Church). So we have it that the relationship between the Lord, the Church, and the new believer is meant to be mirrored in the relationship between the husband, the mother and the children they bring forth. Therefore, to by our actions bring forth any contrary picture than that which the laws and promises of God's word bring forth is living a lie. It is bringing forth a slanderous testimony of heavenly realities.
What I bring you in this teaching is in principle. There is no hard and fast law that says “thou shalt”, or “thou shalt not” in regards to birth control methods that are non-abortive in nature. I commend you to God and the Word of His grace that is able to build you up and give you a place among those that are being saved. To the end that you might by faith hear what is your's to hear and in hearing act out His word. Those that have ears to hear, let that them hear, and let each act according to the proportion of their faith. Amen!
A Parable
A discerning man left his home and visited a foreign place. It was the spring of the year, the dark rich moist soil of certain fields had been cultivated and the sower went forth and sowed his seeds. The discerning man's heart rejoiced in the hope of the crop that by God's blessing would come forth to the sower. Words of praise and thankfulness to God were upon his lips because he realized that God is the one who gives seed to the sower. Although man may plant and water, it is God who gives the increase. Naturally the farmer would seek increase, for this is his purpose. It is the purpose of the field, and of the seed.
Then, almost beyond imagination, the farmer was seen covering the entire breadth of the field with poison, seeking to destroy the seed. The discerning man watched in amazement and thought, “Dear God, he's lost his mind. Who would poison the very field he just planted? Would not it have been better to have left the seed in its sack then to have sown it into the fertile field, then gone though the effort of destroying it?” The discerning man lingered in this foreign land and watched this same process happen repeatedly in many fields. He watched men sow seed into fields that he knew did not belong to them. They were other men's fields. They also poisoned their seed. “My what a peculiar people,” he thought. Fall came. As the crops matured and harvest was neccessary, he watched as men burn their fields until they were but charred stubble...”These people are insane, “ the discerning man thought.
You America man are the farmer. The seed is he seed of your own body. The field is the body of you wife. The poison is whatever contraceptive you have used. The field not belonging to you is the wife of your neighbor or the woman you ravished outside of the marriage covenant. The fire is the destruction of abortion fueled by the wind of popular opinion. The charred stubbled fields are the lives left in the wake of this practice. The discerning man, is a people filled with God's word and purpose who recognize the madness of this generation. A question must be asked, what is the difference of outcome from the poisoning of the seed or the burning of the field, since neither produce a crop? I tell you in the name of Him who is high and holy, in the name of His Son who has been appointed ruler over the nations of this earth, that, as surely as the seed sown leads to a crop harvested, so the destruction of the seed of man though contraceptives leads to the murdering of the preborn and the new born (abortion). Contraceptives are the spirit of abortion.
Oh, that we might turn from our unbelief and wickedness and be a people prepared for the visitation of the Holy One. For God would surely come among us but our ways are offensive to Him.
A Watchman,
Consider these Scriptures:
Gen. 1:22, Gen 3:16, Gen. 9:1&7, Mal. 2:15, 1 Cor. 3:6-7. 2 Cor. 6:16-18, 2 Cor. 9:10, Ps. 127:3-5, John 1:23, Solomon's Song, Pro. 22:6, Deut. 6:7
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