The Truth About Homosexuality, Part 2

Transcript

GRM 855
05/25/2003
The Truth about Homosexuality, Part 2
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We continue the theme we were talking about this morning, and the subject of what the Bible says about homosexuality, and we’ll be focusing most of our time in the New Testament, but I want to take you back to Leviticus chapter 18. In Leviticus chapter 18 verse 22 we read, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.” This passage and then in chapter 20 verse 13, similar statement. “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act. They shall be put to death.” I’m aware that it’s in the Mosaic law, and some who disagree with our position on what the Bible says about homosexuality would say that we pick and choose from the Mosaic law what we want to hold to and what we don’t. I would understand and agree that the Mosaic law in its entirety has been set aside by the finished work of Christ. But both what precedes, and we saw the opening chapters of Genesis and God’s creation purpose, and what follows in the passages we will look at in the New Testament indicate that certain of these things expressed in the Mosaic law are enduring. We believe that they are binding, not because they are part of the Mosaic law but because God has reinforced them in other portions of Scripture as well. We’re looking into the Mosaic law because we simply see there reflected what God established in His creation order and what He will reemphasize after the Mosaic law has been brought to its completion with the coming of Christ and the establishing of the church in the new covenant.

Some of you ask, what do they say in addition, passages like this. Let me give you an example of what one person who is a practicing homosexual, and I pick this man out of other examples I could have given you. Peter Golds, he’s an ordained Baptist minister who presides over Harvard’s nondenominational memorial church. He’s black, gay and Republican. He’s also Harvard’s Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, and he acknowledges, I’m sure I don’t fit your idea of Christian morals, which is why I think you’re quite wrong. Then he goes on. Golds rejects Biblical interpretations that condemn homosexual practices. Those who use the Bible to denigrate homosexuals have take the book’s words out of its historical context, he argues. Then he uses the Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination,” Leviticus 18:22 reads. When the Old Testament was written, Golds argues, homosexuality was seen as a risk to the Jews’ cultural identity and procreation. But that does not mean God disapproves of all homosexual relationships. The Biblical writers never contemplated a form of homosexuality in which loving, monogamous and faithful persons sought to live out the implications of the gospel with as much fidelity to it as any heterosexual believer, he wrote. All they knew of homosexuality was prostitution, lasciviousness and exploitation. He has come with what we would call a pre-understanding of the interpreting of this passage of Scripture. I don’t know where he gets out of the Scripture itself that homosexuality was seen as a risk to the Jews’ cultural identity and procreation. So, we’re not dealing with love relationships. Now it’s true the Biblical writers never contemplated a form of homosexuality, a love in which loving monogamous and faithful persons sought to live out the implications of the gospel with as much fidelity to it as any heterosexual believers, because it is not a Biblical possibility. So, it is never. It is not a cultural issue or anything like that, it’s just a Biblical issue. The Biblical writers never contemplate such a possibility because such a possibility is not a possibility if you’re going to be faithful to the Scriptures.

Before we get into verses let me also say something about the argument, are you born a homosexual or is that a practice you choose later in life. As I would understand it, it is a non-issue. The Bible says we are born sinners, we are sinners both by birth and by choice. By the fact we are born sinners I would take it in our fallen sinful nature there are capacities and tendencies and so on to a variety of kinds of sins. That does not mean that every person has the same draw to certain sins as another person. The fact is all sin is rooted in our fallen, sinful nature which we inherited from Adam. It’s not a matter of getting into the debate, is homosexuality a matter of your choice or is it a matter of how you were born. It’s both. You’re a sinner by birth, and you’re a sinner by choice; and that gets to other sins as well. Are you a drunk because you choose to drink or are you a drunk because you were born with a tendency or a desire or whatever toward that sin. And stealing and adultery and any other kind of sin. Quite frankly, you are not able to sort it out. Jesus said in Mark chapter 7, “it’s out of the heart that proceed all these evil things.” David said, “in sin did my mother conceive me.” Conception wasn’t sin, the point was sin was present from his conception because the sin nature was passed on. As we’re going to see, it means that the solution to the issues involved with the sin nature, the sinful heart, the heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things is the solution found in God’s salvation. We want to be careful that we don’t get drawn into arguments that take us no where. Oh, you’re not born that way. Well, in one sense you are born that way because you were born in sin. Someone else wasn’t born with that same tendency to the same sin. No, but we were all born sinners with that tendency to sin, capacity for sin. As we grow older those desires from that sin nature express themselves in a variety of ways.

Look over in Judges chapter 19, we’ll look at one other passage in the Old Testament before we jump to the New Testament. It shows how these sins become such a part of us that we are willing to die for them. Judges 19. This is similar to the incident with Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19, only we’re at a later time now. Six hundred years or so have gone by since the events of Sodom and Gomorrah. But we see in a town in Israel, in Gibeah, the tribe of Benjamin. The town practiced this, and the people of Benjamin were willing to lay their lives on the line to defend such practices. Judges chapter 19, the account here is a Jewish man travelling, stops to spend the night with his concubine in Gibeah. An elderly man invites him into his home. That’s the practice, open his home, show the hospitality, take responsibility for him and so on. Verse 22, “While they were celebrating, behold the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door. They spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, bring out the man who came into your house so that we may have relations with him.” You’ll note they are worthless fellows, worthless men. Down in verse 23, “The man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said, no my fellows, please do not act so wickedly. This man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly.” Here he offers his virgin daughter and the man’s concubine to satisfy their lusts. Result of the story is that the man pushes his concubine out to them, and they abuse her through the night. In the morning he finds her dead on the doorstep. He takes her back to his hometown, cuts her body in 12 pieces and sends the pieces to the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel. Not saying here that most of the people in the tribe of Benjamin would have committed such sin themselves, but they would commit themselves to the defense of people who would commit such sins. This is a serious matter. I mean they’re willing to put their lives on the line. The other 11 tribes marshal an army of 400,000. That’s pretty intimidating. The tribe of Benjamin marshals an army of 26,000. Now if you stop and think, we’ve got 26,000 men, they’ve got 400,000, I think we ought to try to negotiate. That is because you can see how irrational people become, even in their defense of behavior. There ought not to have been any question. Both the desire for homosexual relationships and the sexual sin committed against this man’s concubine were such clear violations of what God required of His people.

In Leviticus chapter 20 in the context of those moral relationships, God says you have to do this because you are to be holy for, I am holy. It’s an issue of holiness, and what happens, all the men of Benjamin save for 600 men are killed. Over 25,000 men give their lives to defend these worthless fellows and their right to practice their sin. The tribe is on the brink of going out of existence. It takes some special finagling for them to be rescued. Just say that we oughtn’t to be surprised at how people will rise up, things that are obviously vile and immoral, they’ll step up and make sacrifices to defend the right of people to practice such vile and immoral deeds. So, in those senses that kind of situation really nothing has changed.

I want to take you to the New Testament, we’re going to the book of Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1. You’re well familiar with this passage. Homosexuality, as you’re aware, was quite widely practiced among the Greeks, it was practiced among the Romans. But Paul makes the point is not whether it is widely practiced among the ungodly, unbelieving peoples, but whether it has any place among the believers. He identifies here that the practices of the unregenerate man is simply a reflection of his rejection of God and the revelation He has given of Himself. Verse 18, “For the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The truth he’ll deal with in the immediate context is the truth that God is revealed in His very nature in creation. There are certain things that are unnatural, and it’s built into the nature of man, made in the image of God that certain things are recognized. For example, incest. In every culture and every society, they go to whether they’ve ever had contact with the Bible or not, there is a standard that opposes incestuous practices. It would be contrary to nature, it is part of what God has revealed of Himself in the creation, in the making of man in His own image, even though that image has been marred. Paul will refer to this in a moment.

In the creation something of the character and the attributes of God are seen, verse 20. In fact, verse 20 says “His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen.” There is much you can learn of God in creation. There is not enough revelation in creation to save a man, but if man would honestly look at creation, he would learn much of God. “But even though they knew God,” verse 21, you see they don’t know that they do know Him. What they are doing is suppressing the knowledge they have. “They did not honor Him as God. They became empty in their speculation, their foolish heart was darkened, professing to be wise they became fools.” Now some, I was reading what the Metropolitan Community Church, says in interpreting some of these passages, which is the church I mentioned this morning, homosexual church, denomination. They say well what we’re dealing with in this context is people who have rejected God. So naturally everything else about them is unacceptable to God. Romans 1 isn’t contemplating those who would have homosexual relationships and acknowledge God. Romans 1 doesn’t consider that because it is not a possibility. I mean you cannot bow before the living God and honor Him and indulge in immoral sexual practices. The fact you indulge in these kinds of practices is an indication that you have rejected God. It shows something of the perversion of men’s hearts, that they take the Word of God and analyze it word by word to try to make it say the opposite of what it says. Because they have rejected the revelation God has given of Himself and His very nature, His invisible attributes. “Therefore, God gave them over,” in verse 24, “in the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies would be dishonored.” He’s not causing them to do this, remember, He simply gives them over to their desires. That’s the judgment of God, He turns man over to what he wants. “Their bodies would be dishonored among them. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions.” That includes “for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,” literally which is against nature. In their hearts they know it’s wrong, it’s unnatural. “And in the same way the men also abandon the natural function of the woman, burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts, shameless acts, receiving in their own persons the due penalty.” God gave them over to a depraved mind.

It’s not just the sexual sins that were just mentioned, but then you have everything else, things which are not proper. Verse 29, “Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.” You see it’s not saying every person does each and every one of these sins all the time. But here you get a sampling of the kinds of things that characterize people who have rejected the living God. Some of these sins are more prominent. We have people we know who they are gossips. We say boy they are the worst gossip. That’s the sin that dominates and controls them; that’s the realm in which they live. Doesn’t mean they don’t do other sins. If you are going to say what’s the one sin that stands out in their life, they’re gossips. Here’s somebody else, they’re a drunk. They may indulge in other sins, we know they do, but there is a dominating sin that stands out. For someone else it is this and this. These are the kinds of things that characterize ungodly people. “They know the ordinance of God,” verse 32, “that those who practice such things are worthy of death. They not only do the same but give hearty approval to those who practice them”. What God says here.

Now we’re writing to those in the city of Rome, pagan Romans Paul talks about. They know the ordinance of God. There won’t be anybody there to stand before God say I didn’t know, because there is no one who is not exposed to creation. There is no one who does not bear within himself however marred by sin, the image of the God who created him. But in his stubborn rejection of God, he has refused to acknowledge him. They know the ordinance of God. This is unnatural, this deserves punishment, this deserves judgment, this deserves death. They still proceed in it. They try to justify themselves by how? They encourage others, they give their hearty approval to those who practice these things. Something of the society in which we live, isn’t it? I was going to bring an article, came out of the Lincoln Journal a couple years ago, at the last minute I stuck it back in my file, now I wish I had brought it. But the man who was writing about homophobia, and he was writing on the side of those who are against homosexuality are a problem, they are homophobic. He gave a list of all the damage it has done when the Boy Scouts took a position that homosexual men wouldn’t be acceptable as Boy Scout leaders and so on. Listing all the things that had been done, major businesses like Chase Manhattan Bank withdrew their funding for the Boy Scouts because this is contrary to our philosophy. Another city that wouldn’t allow charitable contributions to be given by government employees through their charitable fund to the Boy Scouts. He has a whole list of things and even he admits this gets pretty extreme. Now you see it pervades our society. They give hearty approval to those who practice these things. But the Scripture is clear. This is an unnatural function. It is not a matter of if there’s love in it that changes it. If you acknowledge God, that changes it, because if you acknowledge God, you won’t do it. That’s the whole point of Romans 1. Remember II Peter 3, those who twist the Scripture to their own destruction. Romans 1 is clear. You sit down and read it; you’d say that’s pretty clear. Some of you ask me, what do they do with this passage? They twist it, they distort it, and make it say something other than it says. But God is not confused. Just read it. They exchange the natural for that which is unnatural. They abandon the natural and commit the indecent. That’s what God says about such activity. That’s what it is.

Look over in I Timothy chapter 1, I Timothy chapter 1. Talking about the law. Paul, in the opening chapter of Timothy here, deals with teachers who misuse the law. They think they understand the Mosaic law, but they really don’t. Verse 8, “the law is good if one uses it lawfully. The law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for ungodly and sinners, for unholy and profane.” Now this is the kind of people we are talking about, “the lawless and rebellious, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers and mothers, murderers and immoral men and homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” You note these things are contrary to the law of God, they are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Immorality is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Homosexuality is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Murder and all these things that he lists here, it’s a sampling, they are characteristic of lawless and rebellious people, ungodly and sinners, unholy and profane. God puts it in the same category as those who would murder their parents. These are the kind of things that are oh, evidence of what? You say well some of the sins we’ve seen in the list like liars, that doesn’t seem as bad as murderers. See God is looking at the condition of the heart. All comes from the heart in the same condition, deceitful and desperately wicked.

It’s like if you went to a specialist and you had a disease. Two people go in, and one says well you know I don’t feel too bad. The other says I feel terrible. But the doctor looks and says you know you are both in the same condition. Now the manifestation of that condition is a little different in you than in you. But you both have the same dreaded disease and are in about the same stage and that’s the way we deal with it. Some sinners with their wicked heart look this way, some look a little better. God looks at it as the Great Physician and says you know what? You’re all in the same condition, you all have the same dread disease of sin. It is going to destroy you. So, you see the context here. We want to pull out a sin and make sin good. Like people say marriage is not necessary, we live in a loving relationship. Well, is it the loving relationship that sanctifies it, or is it the marriage? I think you have to have the marriage. Now in the marriage there ought to be a loving relationship, if you have two people who are living in obedience to God. But you don’t sanctify immorality by putting “love” over it, because true, genuine Biblical love does not function contrary to Biblical truth, contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a lie of the devil, it’s the deceit of our own corrupted hearts that make us think we can reject God and His truth and yet it’s okay. It’s not okay, it is contrary to the truth God has revealed.

Back up to I Corinthians chapter 6, I Corinthians chapter 6. Paul is writing to the Corinthians in a Greek city. The Greeks are quite well known for immorality, for homosexual kinds of immorality. Paul writes to the church in Corinth. Verse 9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived.” You see that. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived about this. “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” I don’t know, it seems pretty clear as I read my Bible. Certain people are not going to be part of the kingdom of God. You’re not going to be part of the kingdom of God, you’re going to be in hell. Verse 11, “Such were some of you, but you were washed, cleansed from the defilement of your sins; you were sanctified,” set apart from sin for God. “You were justified, declared righteous by Him, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God.” Very clear. The glorious message of the gospel is there is salvation for sinful people, whether we’re talking about homosexual sin, whether we’re talking about heterosexual sin, whether we’re talking about drunkenness, whether we’re talking about lying, whether we’re talking about swindlers and anything else on the list. There is salvation. But you understand, those who practice such things will not have part in the kingdom of God, because when God saves you, He washes you, He sets you apart from sin for Himself and declares you righteous.

I was reading some material this afternoon written by a man who has become a believer. He says he identifies himself as a recovering homosexual, a recovering homosexual. That’s how he refers to himself. What is a recovering homosexual? What would you think if you met somebody in church and he said oh I’m a recovering adulterer. Me, I’m a recovering gossip. Well, I’m a recovering liar. What is this recovering what? What do you mean recovering? It gives the idea that I’m in the process, I’ve not really been set free, but I’m making progress. It also fits, this man uses a 12-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous that he thinks will help to set people free. First you go back and find out, come to understand my mother did this and then another member of my family did that, and then another member of my family ……… Not saying that the sin nature doesn’t get impacted by things that come into our lives. The point is that’s not the issue. When I read I Corinthians chapter 6, since that’s where we are, I read that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of God you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified. We pull out a sin and it’s a little different kind. I’m a recovering alcoholic, I’m a recovering homosexual. What about every other sin? If any man be in Christ, he is now recovering. Is that the way you read I Corinthians 5? I read it “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” It’s not the recovering old creature, because the old man died. Remember Romans 6?

We’re not trying to have the old man recover. We shot him dead; we nailed him to the cross, we buried him. Now what are we recovering? Well, I’m a recovering …………. Sympathy kind of thing? Get over it. I mean would you half-die? I’ve been partially crucified with Christ, nevertheless I am beginning to live. But it’s not me who lives, Christ is starting to live in me as I recover. That’s not what the verse says. You know our theology gets all warped and twisted, the next thing you know we’re teaching classes and doing seminars with our supposed insight. II Corinthians 5:17, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Such were some of you. One of the greatest verses in all the Bible. Are we speaking from an elevated moral, superior position, we were less sinful in some way. I never indulged in such degrading practices. But you understand in your heart you were every bit degraded as the worst. I would take it from the Apostle Paul, he never practiced such a degrading practice either. But he could refer to himself as the chief of sinners. He wouldn’t have thought of practicing homosexuality, but he was comfortable with the murder of God’s people. We wouldn’t think of practicing sexual immorality, but we would destroy someone’s reputation with our tongue.

Remember James 3 talks about the tongue committing greatest sins. We want to be careful that we don’t get carried away with our own self-righteousness. That’s what we were. But I love the way God put it. That’s what I was, it’s not what I am. I’m not a recovering such-and-such sinner. I am a new man. That doesn’t mean I am perfect in every way, but praise God the old man is dead, and I am to live accordingly.

Come back to Romans chapter 1 again verse 16. Paul said he was eager, in verse 15, to preach the gospel to those who were in Rome. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation,” note, “to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It is the place where man finds the righteousness of God. So, then we start in chapter 1 verse 18 with an unveiling of how sinful we really are, until you come over to chapter 3 and verses 19 and 20, he’s established that everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, is under the condemnation of God for their sin. And he can start in verse 21, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested.” The whole point is not to lay this load on a person that he is such a vile, wretched person. We sure don’t want any homosexuals defiling the carpet in this building by their presence. Not the point. We have a line, you know, sinners are welcome here, but there are certain sinners we look at the bottom of the barrel, they’re not welcome. They’re welcome to hear the gospel, we love to have them come and hear the Word of God. But you understand sin is sin, and the beautiful thing about the message of Christ is there is power in the gospel for the adulterer and the homosexual, for the liar and the cheat, the murderer. Only the power of the gospel will help. More reformation is no good, that just cleans up the outside, but the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. We need a change in heart, and only God can do that.

Turn over to Galatians chapter 5. All these become subtle ways and some not-so-subtle ways of undermining the truth and impact of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We minimize its power. It has a partial effectiveness. That’s not the gospel that is presented in the Scripture. When Paul is dramatically saved on the Damascus Road, he doesn’t become a recovering murderer. It’s done. His life is new, he’s never the same again and that is his testimony. Don’t like to hear Christians use language which is really a denial of the truth they claim to believe. I realize I’m not saying they are not saved, many Christians are just confused, but we have to get over the confusion. In Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 you have, “Now the works of the flesh are evident. Immorality, impurity, sensuality,” seems sexual sins become dominant in all the lists, don’t they. Then they become very prominent in our society, that’s not new. “Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like these.” Again, you see these lists, they give a sampling of the characteristics of those who do not know the living God. “I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” But you’ve seen that repeated, don’t we. Constantly emphasized. What is a Christian homosexual, a Christian adulterer, a Christian liar. You know they are oxymorons. I mean I’m living in adultery, but praise God I’m saved, at least I know I’m going to heaven. Well then what do I do with the Bible verse that says those who are practicing immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God. All I know is I’m saved, I made that decision, I remember the night. I have to say something is dreadfully wrong. I hate to call you a liar, but I’d rather call you a liar than God a liar. Here is what God says, so I think you are in a very serious position. But the fruit of the Spirit is and there are the fruits of the Spirit we looked at not too long ago.

Verse 24, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us walk by the Spirit,” and there is to be a spirit of humility in this. This doesn’t mean no one ever stumbles, no one ever falls. If someone slips with their tongue, if someone fails in the moral life, our first thought is they aren’t saved. They may well be a child of God who has grievously sinned and needs to be restored to the way. Chapter 6 opens up; you restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. But you know the solution has been provided, the correction is there. Those who belong to Christ in verse 24 of chapter 5, “they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” That’s it. Now from that point on anytime I sin, it is my own choice. Before Christ you can say well, I sin I was born this way. There is an element of truth in that, you were born a sinner. Doesn’t surprise me and that sin is so strong it rules your life. I can’t imagine life without it, it’s the only …………. That’s right, that’s the realm in which you live.

But now that the old man has died you are free, free indeed and you can exercise your will. One person I was reading, was writing from a Christian perspective, he says that the Christian church gets too simplistic. Doesn’t realize how complicated these issues are. Well, you know I don’t want to be simplistic, but I don’t want to be anymore complicated than the Word of God is; and I praise God for that freedom. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, it doesn’t mean the temptation cannot be strong. I’m saying the work of Christ is sufficient. You’ve been made alive by the Spirit, now you walk by the Spirit, and the Spirit’s strength is sufficient. We find our adequacy in Him.

I don’t like to be known as a church that is anti-homosexual, oh that’s the church that is against homosexuals. Went through part of my file today with comments received from homosexuals who visited here. On one occasion we had a number of them here and I got a number of notes regarding your friendliness to them and how well they were treated. But they also felt they couldn’t come back because we didn’t accept them as they were and that’s true. They need to understand that they are not accepted by God as they are, anymore than those in heterosexual sins are acceptable to God as they are. Or liars are acceptable to God as they are. That’s the glorious message of the gospel. God has demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were, yet sinners Christ died for us. Not to leave us as we are, to make us new so we can now live for Him who loved us and died for us. Why do we get noted for that? Because there are certain sins the world begins to promote as acceptable and the church has to take its stand on those and naturally that creates a major flashpoint, a major area of clash. We ought not to be intimidated by that. I cannot resolve all the misunderstandings there are. All I can say is I believe that those who don’t practice homosexuality are just as lost as those who do. That sinners need salvation in Jesus Christ. But the solution is not to play down the Biblical truth that homosexuality is anything less than sin and sinful rebellion against God. His plan that was established from the creation when He created a man and a woman and brought them together in a marriage relationship. We are called to proclaim truth, this church is a pillar and support of the truth as every true church is and is to be; and I trust we will be known for that, means we will be known for what we are against as well as what we are for. I don’t tell homosexuals clean up your life. You can stop practicing homosexuality and go to hell, you can stop drinking and go to hell, you can stop lying and go to hell. That’s not the solution, it’s not what we’re saying. We’re saying homosexuality is sin and the church ought not to alter its Biblical understanding in any way on its stand with clarity on sin. We also have to say the power of God in salvation is just as powerful to cleanse and wash, sanctify and bring righteousness to the homosexual as it is to any other sinner; and we are testimonies to that. Praise God.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace in salvation. But for your grace, Lord, we would be the most vile of people, the vileness of our own self-righteousness. Lord you in grace reached down and took hold of us, we who were your enemies. You turned us from our sin and our vileness, our hopelessness, by your grace brought us to faith in Christ that we might believe in Him who is life, in Him in whom there is salvation, there is cleansing, there is freedom. This is the glorious message that we now share with others. I pray that we might be clear in our thinking, clear in our doctrine, Lord clear in our practice. I pray for those who are part of this congregation who are indulging in practices, Lord, that are a denial of you and your Word, that their hearts might be convicted by your truth, that they might consider carefully whether they know you, the living God, the power of your salvation. Lord for those who do, may we draw upon the strength that is ours in Christ. We rejoice to know your Spirit lives within us now, He is our sufficiency, He enables us to be everything and all you intend us to be in Jesus Christ. May the beauty of your salvation be seen clearly, doctrine that we teach and in the lives that we live. For we ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.