August 26, 2025 • 16 mins
Sex is the church's sweet spot for its destruction and the corruption of the world. It's one-and-done for the Enemy, no matter which avenue Satan advances to attack: promiscuity, divorce, pornography, sexual fetishes, same-sex-attraction, gender dysphoria and abortion. All the other sins are just "coping mechanisms."
Scripture references used in this Episode include:
Genesis 5:2 Jeremiah 13:26 Ezekiel 23:1-49
Nahum 3:5 Hosea 1:2 ff Revelation 19
Isaiah 27:5 Genesis 25-27 Genesis 32:22-32
Exodus 30:10 Leviticus 16:16-18 Ecclesiastes 6:9
Genesis 22:8 Isaiah 41:10 Isaiah 41:13
The Grasp that Brings Peace, Sermon by the Rev. Andrew Maclaren
https://www.ppl.org/baby-chris
Abortion is never medically necessary
Abortion Pill Reversal https://abortionpillreversal.com 24/7 Helpline at 877.558.0333 Email: help@apr.life or Chat at the weblink above
Post abortion recovery for both women and men at https://www.rachelsvineyard.org
Life Training Institute https://www.prolifetraining.com
Charlotte Lozier Institute https://lozierinstitute.org
Guttmacher Institute https://guttmacher.org
Compelled by the gospel, PPL equips Presbyterians to champion human life at every stage. PPL.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:18):
I'm going to take a minute to do a little bit of
housekeeping before we getstarted.
Today's episode is aboutbiblical sexuality.
So if you have children that youdo not want to have to explain
certain words to, or certainactivities to, after this
podcast is over, then I suggestyou find them something to do in
(00:42):
another room, or you listen tothis podcast later when they're
not with you.
Welcome back to the ProLifeKitchen Table.
My name is Deborah Holyfield,and as always, I'm going to
share some of the PPL archiveswith you to help you become
better equipped to champion lifeat every stage.
(01:03):
Now, if you've been listeningfor 23 weeks, hopefully you have
heard me improve my podcastskills since episode one.
I'm getting a little better atthe technology and I'm trying
not to rush.
And I hope you have found eachweek to be a worthwhile part of
your day.
It's tough to get the word outon a new podcast, so if you are
(01:24):
at all enthusiastic about whatwe've been doing here, please
take a minute to go to ApplePodcasts and give us a five-star
review so that we can move upand reach more people.
And if you haven't yet shared itwith a friend or with your
church congregation, that wouldreally help out too.
So thanks in advance.
Now today, in recognition thatit's not possible to talk about
(01:47):
abortion without talking aboutsexuality as well, I want to
share an article I wrote titledSexuality is one and done for
the enemy.
Hear the word of the Lord.
(02:15):
So they are no longer two butone flesh.
What therefore God has joinedtogether, let no man separate.
Matthew chapter nineteen versesfour through six Thanks be to
God.
In twenty twenty two, afterdecades of PPL working to equip
Presbyterians to talk franklyabout abortion, the Supreme
(02:38):
Court decision in Dobbs v.
Jackson has at last overturnedRoe V.
Wade and Planned Parenthood V.
Casey.
By that single act, the churchhas now been given permission to
speak about abortion within thewalls of the church and other
polite company.
As much as that is good news, itis just the first step in being
(02:59):
able to speak with confidenceabout biblical sexuality.
And just as a wrongunderstanding of God's view of
all human life fromfertilization to natural death
leads us to wrong conclusionsabout the image of God, a wrong
understanding of God's plan forhuman sexuality opens the door
for wrong conclusions about thedivine purpose for sexual
(03:23):
expression within marriagebetween one man and one woman
and leaves the church incapableof responding with love and
truth to those experiencinggender dysphoria.
All other means of sexualexpression mar the image of God
and lead to a myriad of othersinful behaviors, sinful coping
mechanisms, and abuse of ourneighbor.
(03:46):
Finally, such misunderstandingencourages the fantasy that
matters of sexuality affect onlyoneself and perhaps a partner,
and completely misses the truththat the wronged party in all
sexual sin is God.
In the past, when the churchspoke of sexuality at all, it
tended to speak in materialisticterms of the physicality of the
(04:08):
sexual act, the practicalmatters of what it takes to have
a happy marriage, the generalavoidance of divorce, well at
least back in the day, and theimportance of active parenting.
When it came to the physicalaspects of the sex act, the
commentary tended to reinforcethat marriage was a creation
ordinance, and thus all marriagewas established by God and not
(04:32):
by civil governments, followedby admonitions against adultery,
despite shameful public examplesby clergy, followed predictably
by similarly shameful but noless locally spectacular
failures among the believingcommunity.
Occasionally someone wouldtackle Song of Solomon, a root
guaranteed to confuse bothpastor and flock and completely
(04:56):
confound the youth.
Not content to be left in thedust of the Old Testament,
dedicated pastors and teachersremind God's people periodically
what the definition offornication is, what Bible
submission looks like within acovenant marriage, and for good
measure, that it wasn't justMoses who forbade homosexual
(05:17):
sex.
None of these exercises appearto have any lasting effect on
the sexual behaviors of thewider culture, the believing
community, or even the pastorsand teachers themselves.
Any atheist can rattle off alist of the sexual sins that the
church is against, but a few,inside or outside the church,
(05:38):
can give coherent voice to whatsort of sex the church is for,
or what God's intent for sex isbeyond perhaps simple
procreation.
I often point out that the Bibleis not a book that prohibits
sex, rather it is from start tofinish a sex manual setting
God's people up to experiencesex God's way.
(06:02):
From Genesis to Revelation, allof the language of the vertical
relationship between God andGod's people is the language of
male and female, romance,pursuit, longing, marriage,
faithfulness, adultery,prostitution, as when God's
people go after other gods, theyare whores with their skirts
(06:24):
flung over their head.
Yet God will adopt their bastardchildren from their whoring with
the goal of the witness to theworld of a marriage that
horizontally reflects ourvertical relationship with the
Creator that culminates in themarriage supper of the Lamb.
The further goal is the creationof covenant children made in the
(06:47):
image of God, to expand thekingdom, and whose very presence
exhibits a purity that onlyserves to highlight our own
depravity, and so therefore theymust be destroyed.
Sex is the church's sweet spotfor its destruction and the
corruption of the world.
It's one and done for the enemyno matter which avenue Satan
(07:09):
advances to attack.
Promiscuity, divorce,pornography, sexual fetishes,
same sex attraction and same sexmarriage, gender dysphoria and
abortion, all the other sins,alcoholism, drug addiction,
spousal and child abuse, sextrafficking, and on and on,
(07:30):
those are just coping skills forthe way we deal with these
sexual assaults on God's planfor sexuality, marriage, and
family.
And when Paul was commissionedby the Jerusalem Fathers to
preach to the Gentiles, the onlycondition they put on him, the
only condition they put on him,besides instructing converts to
(07:51):
refrain from idolatrous mealsand blood, sacrificed to idols,
was to teach them to avoidimmoral sex.
Extra biblically, when thedesert fathers withdrew to the
wilderness, it wasn't, as someimagined, because they hated
women.
It was precisely because theyloved and desired women to the
(08:12):
point that they recognized thatthe communion with the Holy
Spirit they sought could nothappen if it was in competition
with sexual desire.
And that's how strong sexualattraction is.
It can actually contend with theHoly Spirit when not contained
within the context of a godlymarriage.
(08:34):
Well, now that I've shocked youby calling the Bible a sex
manual and using more than a fewscandalous words, I'm going to
let you take a break so you canput a cool washcloth on your
forehead before we come backtogether to hear about baby
Chris's development during his22nd week in the woe.
SPEAKER_01 (08:57):
Presbyterians Protecting Life has the
resources you need to equipyourself and your congregation
to champion life at every stage.
We have answers to yourquestions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care and even
(09:19):
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit PPL.org to learn more.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Today's week twenty two devotional about baby Chris
is called Hold On.
Hear the Word of the Lord.
Let him take hold of mystrength, that he may make peace
with me.
Isaiah twenty seven verse five.
Thanks be to God.
At twenty two weeks, Baby Chrishas the tiny fingernails that
(09:49):
his parents will fear trimming.
Mom feels when he gets thehiccups.
His testes are descending andthe ultrasound photos leave no
doubt as to his sex.
Will his parents want to know orwill they want to wait and be
surprised?
He's also refining his babyskills thumb sucking and
grasping.
(10:11):
More and more babies aresurviving if born at this age,
with rates varying from zero butto over fifty percent, depending
on where and what day he isborn.
Every delay this week matters.
All babies are born able tograsp, but at first their fists
are clenched.
(10:31):
After all, wouldn't you beannoyed at your first exposure
to bright lights and noise anddrafts of life on the outside
after being unexpectedly forcedto leave your warm, dark, and
comfy home?
But touch your finger to hispalm, and he will curl those
little fingers right aroundyours.
Soon he begins to examine hishands and flexes them on
(10:54):
purpose, and his ability tograsp will improve exponentially
in his first months.
Soon his parents andgrandparents will begin their
years-long lookout for things heshouldn't be grabbing or
sticking in his mouth.
As his hand eye coordinationimproves, he'll move from
swatting at the mobile over hisplaymat at three months to
(11:16):
throwing things at nine months,and by the time he's a year old
he'll be fascinated by crayons.
In language, we use grasp indifferent ways.
It can mean to reach out andtake something.
Sometimes it means to hold onto.
It can also mean to understand,like to grasp a concept with
(11:37):
your mind.
Negatively, it can mean to reachout and snatch or steal, or as
the characteristic of someonewith a reputation for cheating
or taking more than his share,we call that person a grasping
person.
There are a few famous uses ofgrasp in the Old Testament.
Probably the best known is thestory of the twins Jacob and
(12:00):
Esau.
The name Jacob means grasper,supplanter, or even cheater.
Jacob was grasping Esau's heelas they were being born, which
turned out to be a predictor ofhow their lives would unfold as
over and over Jacob reached outto grasp the rights of his
firstborn brother for himself.
(12:21):
It can be hard to like Jacobportrayed in the stories of
God's unfolding covenant withhim.
But the good news for Jacob andthe good news for us is that God
works with who Jacob is as heis.
God meets Jacob's fight with hisown fight.
God wrestles with him strengthfor strength.
God holds on to Jacob anddoesn't let go.
(12:44):
And before too long Jacob's nameis changed to Israel.
God contends.
Then there is the desperategrasp that is the clutch of
faith when we cling to God asour refuge.
In the ancient sanctuary of God,the altar had four protrusions
on its corners that were knownas the horns of the altar.
(13:08):
Each year on the Day ofAtonement, the priest would
anoint each horn with the bloodof the sin offering in order to
atone for the altar, for all thesins of the whole Israelite
people.
Anytime a fugitive was beingpursued by a victim's avengers,
the fugitive could run to thesanctuary and then grasp the
(13:28):
horns of the altar, claiming itsholy protection for his sinful
act, in effect appropriating thesacrifice that had been made for
his sin as a member of thepeople of God, and thus avoiding
the death penalty.
It is a picture that faith issomething much more vital than
intellectual assent or credence,an act of the whole person
(13:51):
realizing his need and castinghimself on God.
Our infant's clenched fist isanalogous to the way all humans
are primed and ready for a fightwith God and with our fellow
humans right from the day we'reborn.
It's a cute pink symbol of theugly, dark selfishness and
aggressive covetousness of whichwe all struggle, or at least we
(14:15):
know we should struggle with it.
But we aren't left alone in thefight.
God makes room for rebellion,and he honors the struggle as we
gradually learn that we arereally just flailing futilely at
the wind.
We long for peace, peace withinourselves, peace with our
neighbors, and most of all peacewith God.
(14:36):
We are not good at this peacething.
Those fists are always at theready.
So God provides the sacrifice,God provides the altar, and God
provides the atoning work of ourSavior, Christ Jesus, the one to
whom we run for protection.
We are not left to grasp thehorns of the altar with our puny
(15:00):
strength.
Instead, God will firmly graspand uphold us with his righteous
right hand.
Hear the word of the Lord.
For I, the Lord thy God, willhold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not, I will helpthee.
Isaiah chapter forty-one, versethirteen.
(15:24):
Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share it andjoin us next time on Pro Life
Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
I'm going to take a minute to do a little bit of
housekeeping before we getstarted.
Today's episode is aboutbiblical sexuality.
So if you have children that youdo not want to have to explain
certain words to, or certainactivities to, after this
podcast is over, then I suggestyou find them something to do in
(00:42):
another room, or you listen tothis podcast later when they're
not with you.
Welcome back to the ProLifeKitchen Table.
My name is Deborah Holyfield,and as always, I'm going to
share some of the PPL archiveswith you to help you become
better equipped to champion lifeat every stage.
(01:03):
Now, if you've been listeningfor 23 weeks, hopefully you have
heard me improve my podcastskills since episode one.
I'm getting a little better atthe technology and I'm trying
not to rush.
And I hope you have found eachweek to be a worthwhile part of
your day.
It's tough to get the word outon a new podcast, so if you are
(01:24):
at all enthusiastic about whatwe've been doing here, please
take a minute to go to ApplePodcasts and give us a five-star
review so that we can move upand reach more people.
And if you haven't yet shared itwith a friend or with your
church congregation, that wouldreally help out too.
So thanks in advance.
Now today, in recognition thatit's not possible to talk about
(01:47):
abortion without talking aboutsexuality as well, I want to
share an article I wrote titledSexuality is one and done for
the enemy.
Hear the word of the Lord.
(02:15):
So they are no longer two butone flesh.
What therefore God has joinedtogether, let no man separate.
Matthew chapter nineteen versesfour through six Thanks be to
God.
In twenty twenty two, afterdecades of PPL working to equip
Presbyterians to talk franklyabout abortion, the Supreme
(02:38):
Court decision in Dobbs v.
Jackson has at last overturnedRoe V.
Wade and Planned Parenthood V.
Casey.
By that single act, the churchhas now been given permission to
speak about abortion within thewalls of the church and other
polite company.
As much as that is good news, itis just the first step in being
(02:59):
able to speak with confidenceabout biblical sexuality.
And just as a wrongunderstanding of God's view of
all human life fromfertilization to natural death
leads us to wrong conclusionsabout the image of God, a wrong
understanding of God's plan forhuman sexuality opens the door
for wrong conclusions about thedivine purpose for sexual
(03:23):
expression within marriagebetween one man and one woman
and leaves the church incapableof responding with love and
truth to those experiencinggender dysphoria.
All other means of sexualexpression mar the image of God
and lead to a myriad of othersinful behaviors, sinful coping
mechanisms, and abuse of ourneighbor.
(03:46):
Finally, such misunderstandingencourages the fantasy that
matters of sexuality affect onlyoneself and perhaps a partner,
and completely misses the truththat the wronged party in all
sexual sin is God.
In the past, when the churchspoke of sexuality at all, it
tended to speak in materialisticterms of the physicality of the
(04:08):
sexual act, the practicalmatters of what it takes to have
a happy marriage, the generalavoidance of divorce, well at
least back in the day, and theimportance of active parenting.
When it came to the physicalaspects of the sex act, the
commentary tended to reinforcethat marriage was a creation
ordinance, and thus all marriagewas established by God and not
(04:32):
by civil governments, followedby admonitions against adultery,
despite shameful public examplesby clergy, followed predictably
by similarly shameful but noless locally spectacular
failures among the believingcommunity.
Occasionally someone wouldtackle Song of Solomon, a root
guaranteed to confuse bothpastor and flock and completely
(04:56):
confound the youth.
Not content to be left in thedust of the Old Testament,
dedicated pastors and teachersremind God's people periodically
what the definition offornication is, what Bible
submission looks like within acovenant marriage, and for good
measure, that it wasn't justMoses who forbade homosexual
(05:17):
sex.
None of these exercises appearto have any lasting effect on
the sexual behaviors of thewider culture, the believing
community, or even the pastorsand teachers themselves.
Any atheist can rattle off alist of the sexual sins that the
church is against, but a few,inside or outside the church,
(05:38):
can give coherent voice to whatsort of sex the church is for,
or what God's intent for sex isbeyond perhaps simple
procreation.
I often point out that the Bibleis not a book that prohibits
sex, rather it is from start tofinish a sex manual setting
God's people up to experiencesex God's way.
(06:02):
From Genesis to Revelation, allof the language of the vertical
relationship between God andGod's people is the language of
male and female, romance,pursuit, longing, marriage,
faithfulness, adultery,prostitution, as when God's
people go after other gods, theyare whores with their skirts
(06:24):
flung over their head.
Yet God will adopt their bastardchildren from their whoring with
the goal of the witness to theworld of a marriage that
horizontally reflects ourvertical relationship with the
Creator that culminates in themarriage supper of the Lamb.
The further goal is the creationof covenant children made in the
(06:47):
image of God, to expand thekingdom, and whose very presence
exhibits a purity that onlyserves to highlight our own
depravity, and so therefore theymust be destroyed.
Sex is the church's sweet spotfor its destruction and the
corruption of the world.
It's one and done for the enemyno matter which avenue Satan
(07:09):
advances to attack.
Promiscuity, divorce,pornography, sexual fetishes,
same sex attraction and same sexmarriage, gender dysphoria and
abortion, all the other sins,alcoholism, drug addiction,
spousal and child abuse, sextrafficking, and on and on,
(07:30):
those are just coping skills forthe way we deal with these
sexual assaults on God's planfor sexuality, marriage, and
family.
And when Paul was commissionedby the Jerusalem Fathers to
preach to the Gentiles, the onlycondition they put on him, the
only condition they put on him,besides instructing converts to
(07:51):
refrain from idolatrous mealsand blood, sacrificed to idols,
was to teach them to avoidimmoral sex.
Extra biblically, when thedesert fathers withdrew to the
wilderness, it wasn't, as someimagined, because they hated
women.
It was precisely because theyloved and desired women to the
(08:12):
point that they recognized thatthe communion with the Holy
Spirit they sought could nothappen if it was in competition
with sexual desire.
And that's how strong sexualattraction is.
It can actually contend with theHoly Spirit when not contained
within the context of a godlymarriage.
(08:34):
Well, now that I've shocked youby calling the Bible a sex
manual and using more than a fewscandalous words, I'm going to
let you take a break so you canput a cool washcloth on your
forehead before we come backtogether to hear about baby
Chris's development during his22nd week in the woe.
SPEAKER_01 (08:57):
Presbyterians Protecting Life has the
resources you need to equipyourself and your congregation
to champion life at every stage.
We have answers to yourquestions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care and even
(09:19):
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit PPL.org to learn more.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Today's week twenty two devotional about baby Chris
is called Hold On.
Hear the Word of the Lord.
Let him take hold of mystrength, that he may make peace
with me.
Isaiah twenty seven verse five.
Thanks be to God.
At twenty two weeks, Baby Chrishas the tiny fingernails that
(09:49):
his parents will fear trimming.
Mom feels when he gets thehiccups.
His testes are descending andthe ultrasound photos leave no
doubt as to his sex.
Will his parents want to know orwill they want to wait and be
surprised?
He's also refining his babyskills thumb sucking and
grasping.
(10:11):
More and more babies aresurviving if born at this age,
with rates varying from zero butto over fifty percent, depending
on where and what day he isborn.
Every delay this week matters.
All babies are born able tograsp, but at first their fists
are clenched.
(10:31):
After all, wouldn't you beannoyed at your first exposure
to bright lights and noise anddrafts of life on the outside
after being unexpectedly forcedto leave your warm, dark, and
comfy home?
But touch your finger to hispalm, and he will curl those
little fingers right aroundyours.
Soon he begins to examine hishands and flexes them on
(10:54):
purpose, and his ability tograsp will improve exponentially
in his first months.
Soon his parents andgrandparents will begin their
years-long lookout for things heshouldn't be grabbing or
sticking in his mouth.
As his hand eye coordinationimproves, he'll move from
swatting at the mobile over hisplaymat at three months to
(11:16):
throwing things at nine months,and by the time he's a year old
he'll be fascinated by crayons.
In language, we use grasp indifferent ways.
It can mean to reach out andtake something.
Sometimes it means to hold onto.
It can also mean to understand,like to grasp a concept with
(11:37):
your mind.
Negatively, it can mean to reachout and snatch or steal, or as
the characteristic of someonewith a reputation for cheating
or taking more than his share,we call that person a grasping
person.
There are a few famous uses ofgrasp in the Old Testament.
Probably the best known is thestory of the twins Jacob and
(12:00):
Esau.
The name Jacob means grasper,supplanter, or even cheater.
Jacob was grasping Esau's heelas they were being born, which
turned out to be a predictor ofhow their lives would unfold as
over and over Jacob reached outto grasp the rights of his
firstborn brother for himself.
(12:21):
It can be hard to like Jacobportrayed in the stories of
God's unfolding covenant withhim.
But the good news for Jacob andthe good news for us is that God
works with who Jacob is as heis.
God meets Jacob's fight with hisown fight.
God wrestles with him strengthfor strength.
God holds on to Jacob anddoesn't let go.
(12:44):
And before too long Jacob's nameis changed to Israel.
God contends.
Then there is the desperategrasp that is the clutch of
faith when we cling to God asour refuge.
In the ancient sanctuary of God,the altar had four protrusions
on its corners that were knownas the horns of the altar.
(13:08):
Each year on the Day ofAtonement, the priest would
anoint each horn with the bloodof the sin offering in order to
atone for the altar, for all thesins of the whole Israelite
people.
Anytime a fugitive was beingpursued by a victim's avengers,
the fugitive could run to thesanctuary and then grasp the
(13:28):
horns of the altar, claiming itsholy protection for his sinful
act, in effect appropriating thesacrifice that had been made for
his sin as a member of thepeople of God, and thus avoiding
the death penalty.
It is a picture that faith issomething much more vital than
intellectual assent or credence,an act of the whole person
(13:51):
realizing his need and castinghimself on God.
Our infant's clenched fist isanalogous to the way all humans
are primed and ready for a fightwith God and with our fellow
humans right from the day we'reborn.
It's a cute pink symbol of theugly, dark selfishness and
aggressive covetousness of whichwe all struggle, or at least we
(14:15):
know we should struggle with it.
But we aren't left alone in thefight.
God makes room for rebellion,and he honors the struggle as we
gradually learn that we arereally just flailing futilely at
the wind.
We long for peace, peace withinourselves, peace with our
neighbors, and most of all peacewith God.
(14:36):
We are not good at this peacething.
Those fists are always at theready.
So God provides the sacrifice,God provides the altar, and God
provides the atoning work of ourSavior, Christ Jesus, the one to
whom we run for protection.
We are not left to grasp thehorns of the altar with our puny
(15:00):
strength.
Instead, God will firmly graspand uphold us with his righteous
right hand.
Hear the word of the Lord.
For I, the Lord thy God, willhold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not, I will helpthee.
Isaiah chapter forty-one, versethirteen.
(15:24):
Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share it andjoin us next time on Pro Life
Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
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