Where We Are and Why

Transcript

GRM 1139
6/28/2015
Where We Are and Why
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

There were many things going on this past week in the news but there was nothing more important going on in the world than the ministry of God's Word to the kids. Good reminder for us what really matters.

There was a break in our study of 2 Corinthians last week because I wasn't here. I appreciate the men who preached. But I thought we would continue that break this week because I need to say something about what is happening in the world and in our country in these days and just remind us again as believers in Jesus Christ and believers in the Word of God where we are and why we are where we are. Whatever goes on in the world puts pressure on us and our leaders. This past week as everybody knows, they passed a law defining marriage in a way that it had not been defined before. It moves us in the direction that other nations and other countries prior to our time period have never contemplated or even considered. We need to be careful that we have a biblical view on what is biblical and what is not biblical and how we handle these things.

This has been coming for some time, these kinds of things put pressure on believers. Now we will be viewed differently. Those who hold biblical views will be looked at differently. A few years ago there was an issue over I think it was Chick-fil-A. I pull out an article here. The president of that company had expressed his views in an interview that he thought the biblical view of marriage was between a man and a woman and that was what God had ordained. And the response to that was what we might expect to see. The mayor of Boston said he would try to prevent them from opening a store in the city; the mayor of Chicago said he would do the same thing. He would block them from building a restaurant in his ward. One of the city councilmen from Philadelphia said there was no room in their city for people with such bigotry and hate. And we can only expect that things will be stronger now. I believe it was the local paper that had the headline, maybe yesterday, It Has Been Ordered, or something to that effect. And there is that that goes on.

About three years ago there was an article in the paper. One of the football coaches had expressed his view that the biblical view of marriage is a man and a woman. One of the members of the local school board wrote to the university saying he ought to be fired, and the quote is, “when some people seek to camouflage their hatred under the cloak of their faith, their professed religious beliefs should not shield them from the consequences of their actions.” In other words he has no right to be employed by a state organization. That was the case a few years ago, now that it has been declared to be a constitutional right, it's equated to things like segregation and so on, we can expect that pressure will grow.

It has been coming for some time. This is an article from a few years ago. “A prominent psychiatrist has written a letter to the editor of the New York Times, asserting that homophobia, but not homosexuality, is a form of mental illness. He said the consensus grows among mental health professionals that homophobia, the irrational fear and hatred of homosexuals, is a psychological abnormality that interferes with the judgment and reliability of those afflicted.” That being the case, we cannot expect that opinion will change. Now we as believers are not to adjust our beliefs according to public opinion, which quoted in the articles is how public opinion has changed over the years. And that is to be sure. We want to understand and remind ourselves of what the biblical foundation is, and we ought to be sure we are clear on this. Sometimes believers get caught up in arguing over matters like this. I don't mean arguing in a negative manner but in discussions and debates, and they get caught into a trap. We need to be careful we understand why we hold the view that we do. And we don't hold it because the marriage of a man and a woman and a home with a husband and a wife and a mother and a father provides a better environment for children. I believe that is true, but I don't hold the view because of that. We get into those kinds of arguments, pretty soon they will come up with statistics. I saw two people on the news this morning, and they’d been in this living relationship for I don't know how long, twenty years, something like that. And they said “we now can express that openly in a marriage relationship.” We don't have anything against people who hold a different view. And the one person said, “I am a Christian, I believe in God.” It sounds so nice, but we need to understand there are serious issues here. I want to say I don't hate homosexuals, I don't have an irrational fear of homosexuals, I don't have homophobia, I don't have kleptophobia. I believe stealing is sin, but I don't have an irrational fear of those who steal, unless they are trying to steal from me.

So some of these things come up. If you hold a different opinion, you have hatred. Like this member of the local school board said, they are seeking to camouflage their hatred under the cloak of their faith, their professed religious beliefs. In other words they are not real. They are not genuine. They just have them. How can they tell? But you see where it goes. This is a person on a school board, supposedly educating people broadening their minds. But you understand, anyone who holds a different opinion is filled with hatred and they will try to cover it up. In other words there is only one view that can be held here. Of course we are educating you to be open to everything but that which is biblical

We should start with clarifying God's position, so we'll come to Isaiah 40. This is review, it's intended to be review for us as believers. Pressure will be on you as a believer, attending a church that will be known for teaching homosexuality is sin, as is adultery sin, as is all kinds of sex outside of marriage sin, as lying is sin, as stealing is sin. But they will only pick up on this one. Isaiah 40, just a reminder that God is sovereign, He rules over His creation. And Isaiah 40 is reminding us of that and the finality of what God says. Look at Isaiah 40:6, “A voice says call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out? All flesh is grass, all its loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.” You ought to have that marked—“the Word of our God stands forever.” The greatness of man, the glory of man, the accomplishments of man, they come and go, supreme court justices comes and go, presidents come and go, congressmen come and go but the Word of God endures forever.

Verse 13, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or as His counselor has informed Him?” God is not waiting to form His opinions on the basis of public opinion polls. Verse 15, “Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, are regarded as a speck of dust in the scales.” Verse 17, “All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless,” empty. You understand nothing has changed in the courts of heaven because men on earth have made a declaration. It has been ordered by men but the orders of men mean nothing to God who orders all things.

Come over to Isaiah 45:9, look at verse 6 first. “I am the Lord, there is no other. The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.” Verse 9, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth. Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing? Or the thing you are making say he has no hands.” Verse 12, “It is I who made the earth and created man upon it.” We'll be going to that in a moment. Remember, “It is I who made the earth, it is I who created man upon it.” Do you know what He is declaring? His absolute sovereignty over all creation, the earth and the men who live upon it. “I stretched out the heavens with My hands, I ordained all their hosts.” In other word they are all Mine, they live under My authority. They may rebel, but they cannot win. The Word of the Lord stands forever.

Come back to the New Testament, 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God” because of what we believe concerning Him. 1 John 5:1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And we know that we love God because we keep His commandments. “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments.” Many people talk about God's love and love today. You understand what the love of God is, It's not some sentimental feeling; it's expressed in obedience. And a person who does not obey God does not love God, regardless of the feelings they may have in their heart, no matter what they declare with their lips. They cannot love God and be living a life of disobedience to God.

We come down to verse 19, “We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the evil one.” We have the words “in the power of” which expresses it, but it “lies in the evil one.” The point is the evil one, the devil, has authority over fallen man. Now we need to understand this. As Christians we begin to drift and fail to understand. The whole world, not just our country, not just Muslim countries, Hindu countries, every country, the whole world and all the people in it lie under the authority and power and control of the evil one. This is why we find rebellion against God worldwide, that's why we find . . . Back up to 1 John 2:3. He has just talked about in 1 John 2:2, “He Himself,” referring to Christ, “is the propitiation for our sins.” It has become popular to sing Amazing Grace. John Newton wrote that at the end of the 18th century, he understood God's saving grace to be the payment for his sin, to satisfy the demands of a righteous God. “He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only but for those of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We live in obedience to Him, we desire to please Him and honor Him.

You come down to verse 15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Why? Well the whole world lies in the evil one. We cannot love the world and live for the world, live to please the world if we are the children of God. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world.” And then expressing the same sentiment we read in Isaiah 40, “The world is passing away and its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” So those who come to be cleansed by His salvation now live to please and obey Him, they will live forever. “Children, it is the last hour. Many antichrists have appeared and many have gone out from us,” verse 19. Already John could say some have abandoned the fellowship of true believers, “but they were really not of us. If they have been of us they would have remained with us. They went out so it would be shown they really are not of us.” Dividing line. Doesn't mean you have to attend and be part of this church, but true believers are a part of a true, Bible-believing Bible-obeying fellowship of believers. The end of verse 21, “No lie is of the truth.”

Come over to John 8, Jesus is addressing religious people, spiritual leaders. He says in verse 34, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Verse 36, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” This becomes the crucial issue—freedom from sin, its power and domination comes only through faith in Christ. We have been studying in 2 Corinthians, He gave His life for us so that through faith in Him we would no longer live for ourselves, our pleasures, our desires but for the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Look at verse 40, “But as it is you are seeking to kill Me,” Jesus speaking, “a man who told you the truth which I heard from God.” There is a basic animosity and hatred among unbelievers against the truth of God and against anyone who would tell the truth of God. Remember Jesus said, if they have treated Me as your Master this way, should you expect better treatment as My slave? The pressure will come upon us. We need to be careful in our attitude. If I were asked today, do you believe homosexuals are going to hell? I don't want to be trapped. I would say, I believe everyone is going to hell. The Bible says all have sinned—homosexuals are going to hell, liars are going to hell, immoral heterosexuals, covetous. In fact the Bibles says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of their sin is death. Homosexuality is just one of it, but you can be a heterosexual on your way to an eternal hell. Be careful we don't get trapped into something that they say, you are a bigot. I'm not a bigot, I'm just simply telling you that sinners are going to hell. I was too, until I humbled myself before God and acknowledged I was the sinner He said I was, believed that His Son loved me and died for me and there was no hope for my salvation but by believing in Him. And He changed my life so I would now live for Him. Of course I believe homosexuality is sin, the Bible says it is, but it's just one of a multitude of sins. And trying to clean up your life won't make you acceptable to God. Our sins simply reveal our hearts which are deceitful and desperately above all things, as the prophet Jeremiah said.

Verse 41, still in John 8, “You are doing the deeds of you father.” They claim “we have one Father, God.” These are Jews, they wouldn't think of practicing homosexuality, but they are planning the murder of the Son of God. He said “if God were your Father, you would love Me.” Verse 43, “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My Word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Understand, we as believers go soft on what the Bible says about the seriousness of sin and the condition of man in his sin. We say, I can't believe they are doing this. What are they thinking? It's irrational, and it is. But we understand perfectly well why they are doing it—there is no truth in the devil and there is no truth in the children of the devil. They hate it. Then you will be prepared. You go to that church out there that is bigoted and hates homosexuals, and through this, this is the church that hates women because we teach what the Bible says about men and women and their differing roles. Do I want people to think I'm a bigot. No, but you cannot change the view of the world toward you as a child of God unless you try to disguise the fact you are a child of God. I try not to let that be known because if it is known they won't like me. They'll think I'm bigoted. What do you think the devil thinks of you as a child of God? He thinks he's a good guy. He's a Christian. He believes in Christ. He wants to honor Christ. He wants to be obedient to the Word of God but he's a good guy. I tell you, the devil hates you. He knows who you are. He even knows your strengths and weaknesses and what pressure to put on you to make you uncomfortable as a believer.

Verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.” That answers why the country has gone the way it is, why the world is going the way it is. It is not open to hear the Word of God, not open to hear the truth of God. Many reasons, many arguments given, but you'll note they don't quote the Bible anymore because that would put you out of bounds, disqualified. We can give reasons and arguments and present statistics, but the Bible is not in play. Man has always been in rebellion, his rebellion just is getting worse. There were times that that wasn't the case.

Verse 51, “Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.” There is no possibility…. we'll be talking about this, I know we won't get to it today, there is no possibility of living in sin and being a believer. You don't keep His Word, then you will see death. We have so changed. I was reading a scholarly work this week. It's good for me once in a while. It was by an evangelical professor. He added a footnote and he says, “does the word evangelical have any content anymore?” We have made it so broad and so inclusive it really means nothing. Anyone says I'm a Christian, I'm an evangelical. I don't believe in the creation account of Genesis, I don't believe in the account of Revelation and the last days, I don't believe that homosexuality is sin, but I'm a Christian, I believe in Christ. They can say what they want and they'll say, you're out to be the judge of everyone. No, God is the judge of everyone but we need to be clear where the Word is and what the issue is.

Ephesians 6 says “we do not battle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.” It goes far beyond the Supreme Court or the President or the Congress. This is a battle of spiritual forces and if you are a child of God, you are opposed by the children of the devil. If you are not a child of God, you are part of the family of the devil opposed to God and His people, His truth. There is no middle ground. That's why Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice to God.” Then he goes on, “and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the making new of your mind.”

Come back to Genesis 15. Here God is establishing a covenant with Abraham and He tells him in verse 13, He says to Abram, whose name will be changed to Abraham, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years.” This is the Egyptian bondage, 400 years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.” Judgment on the Egyptians—death of the firstborn, the plagues, and then the people of Egypt giving possessions to the Israelites. God telling all that would take place. He tells Abraham, you won't see this, you are going to die and be buried. Then verse 16, “In the fourth generation they will return here,” now note, “for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Why did God not send them into the land? There were a couple of reasons but the one expressed here is the land, the people in the land of Canaan, the Amorites here, it's not yet time for their judgment.

It's like if you have children or grandchildren, you take them out into your garden. You have tomato plants and they are ready to pick the most unripe tomato. You say, no, don't take that one, that's not ripe yet. Here, pick this one. That will become ripe later. That's what God is saying about the people in the land of Canaan. They are not ripe for judgment. They are not escaping judgment and their continual rebellion and pursuit of sin will bring them to the point when they are ripe for My judgment. Then God will send Israel in there and say, do not spare a man, a child, a woman. They all are to die. Now I say that because what we see is a world ripening for judgment. As we've studied some things in recent times, some people are frustrated with us who take the Bible literally—you are pessimistic, you are always saying the world is going to get worse. Well, I'm not saying that because I don't know the future. I've come to know it because God says it and He's the only One who knows the future. Read Matthew 24, Jesus says it is going to get worse. It's going to get so bad, if He didn't intervene there wouldn't be anybody left alive on the face of the earth. It's a lie from the pit of hell that says we can improve the world. You can't. And the book of Revelation from chapter 6 to chapter 19 tells you how bad it's going to be when billions of people die under the judgments of God. That's where the world is going. It's going to get worse, it's not going to get better.

So are we surprised there is more open and flagrant display of sin? I'm not saying we are near the end. We may be, it may be a longer time. But the pattern is going. God knows when the time is ripe. The whole world is ripening. It's not a matter, well America is doing this, what is happening. Or this country is doing this. The whole world likes in the evil one and when God does finally intervene with His judgments, we call it the tribulation, the whole world will be involved. We need to be careful. Opinion polls will continue to go against believers because unbelievers are not in favor of the truth of God. Some say, you have a martyr's complex, you see yourself as persecuted. No, I don't, but I realize there is no harmony between the believer and unbeliever. When we get back to 2 Corinthians, we will be in that passage—what fellowship does a child of God have with the devil? There is none. So we shouldn't be surprised where the world is.

Come to Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained.” And you have in the margin, it says or revelation, vision, same word that is used like in Isaiah or the other prophets when they received a vision from God. “Where there is no vision,” no revelation from God, “the people are unrestrained. But happy is he who keeps the Law” because the Word of God they had in Solomon's day would have been the Law. You see what it is when people don't have the Word of God, they are unrestrained. That's why I say we want to be careful, the argument sometimes used in debating whether we should have marriage limited to a man and woman or it can be broader than that, those who reject the Scripture, they are without any restraint. Do you know what they have? Their feelings. Do you know what they have? Public pressure, opinion polls. We have prominent political leaders today and you see them on the news being quoted a few years ago, I believe in traditional marriage. And marriage is to be between a man and a woman. And today they are celebrating and saying, I am excited. They don't have convictions that are settled in the unchanging Word of God. Public opinions change, I change, the Supreme Court can say times have changed. Some who claim to be believers say times have changed.

There is a man who has been a professor at a school that claims to be evangelical, and it did start out as evangelical. This is his quote, those who use the Bible to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians are misusing and distorting the Scripture. And then it says he has been on the faculty of an evangelical seminary, which is now a cemetery, spiritually speaking. He was on a task force of 15 men or people to see what the Bible says about homosexuality. And they decided that when understood in the context of the biblical narrative most of those passages that were condemning violent acts or acts associated with pagan religion rather than identifying homosexuality as sin. In fact, he said, the writers of the Bible had no concept of sexual orientation. Then he goes on to say, the purpose of the Bible is not forever to bind us to the practices of an ancient culture. The Bible is about revelation. Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead so we might be reconciled to God. That's a great statement. His next statement is when we read the Bible through the lens of Jesus redemptive life and ministry, we focus on what is important—loving God and loving our neighbor. We need to be careful. Because he makes a statement, Jesus lived, died, rose from the dead so we might be reconciled to God, we say he is an evangelical. No he is not, he's just a man who knows what the Bible says. He co-authored a whole book denying the inspiration of Scripture. I mean, what a mess. We need to be careful.

Come back to Genesis 1, you knew we would get here. Stop at Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a disgrace to any people.” And it is a disgrace and a shame on our nation that we exalt and promote sin. The White House in colors promoting this kind of sexual behavior, the Supreme Court majority taking a position that this behavior is good and everybody should be allowed to practice it that wants it recognized and you can't discriminate. Many in Congress. Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a disgrace to many people. I don't see believers called to try to change society, but we also recognize it is a disgrace and shame on our nation that we should publicly and happily say, we will not obey God. Because, as one justice in the Senate said, five lawyers have decided. So God is in heaven now saying, that part of what I said has sort of gone out of date. But too late now, hopefully they'll sort it out.

Come back to Genesis 1, this is where we begin. This is why there are attacks on the opening chapters of Genesis. People who claim to be evangelicals dismantle the opening chapters. Well, science has shown….. It's like the article I read, science has shown that those who are opposed to homosexuality are mentally unbalanced. I have another article I didn't bring because some of these things aren't appropriate, but they are drawing the line between adults and children. Shouldn't be called pedophilia anymore. That discriminates against those who have this kind of attraction. And you see if my feelings have to be accepted, some people say, I have this feeling. An article quoting from a psychiatrist, graduate from Harvard, going to prison for that kind of activity. Why can't you people accept this? I was born this way. How long before that has to be accepted? He is scholarly, you deny his feelings. Like they say, if these feelings were something that I could control, would I have them? Well, they come out of a fallen, sinful nature. My feelings aren't a reliable guide.

We're in Genesis 1, creation account. We come to Genesis 1:26, “Then God said let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and let them rule.” You see we're going to make man and we're going to let them rule over the rest of creation. You come to verse 27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” An aside here. You know the debate about using a generic term man for all humanity, well that's offensive. Now we have updated translations of Scripture who change it to all people. You cannot buy a scholarly commentary from evangelicals, it seems these days, that doesn't put all people or men/women because it's not politically correct to talk about man and use it generically. But you know who started that? The Creator. That wasn't something that just flowed out of patriarchal societies. Do you believe in the inspiration of Scripture? What did He say? Verse 26, “God said let us make man in our image and our likeness.” Verse 27, “God created man in His own image, male and female.” So He created man and man, mankind will be divided into two divisions—male and female.

So in little subtle ways we begin to yield and say that's no big thing. I want to be sure women feel included. Well then maybe men and women need to be taught why the Bible uses this terminology. Because it becomes key because it is not just limited to a certain period of time. This is God's plan. He created male and female, they are distinct. And incidentally, the word for man is Adam and that is carried over to the name of the man Adam. He is man.

You come down into Genesis 2, this is not a different account of creation. As you are aware, God is simply now going to zero in on the focal point of His crating work, man as male and female. The Bible will follow this through until its end, doesn't follow birds or buffalo or whatever else. It follows man. So here let's explain. He said He created man as male and female, wonder how He did that. Well come down to Genesis 2:7, “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” He is put in the Garden, then we come to verse 18. “Then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone.” I will make another man and they can bond, you know we are into male bonding. Maybe two other men and they can talk about fishing and hunting, golf and whatever else they want to talk about. No, “I will make a helper suitable,” compatible, corresponding, fitting “for him.” So man as man alone is not fully what God intends him to be. Not that God came to a realization here, he has written for our benefit that this is the plan. It's not good for man to be alone.

So there is no helper fitted to him in the animal creation. Next will come, I saw a court case, some of you saw it here a month or two ago on TV. Nobody could believe it is on, where somebody wanted two apes to be given human rights, something like that. And there was one attorney, another attorney and a judge sitting there and going through this silliness. But is it so silly? If we are just further along the chain, maybe I love someone who is not so far along the chain. And we already spend more on our dogs than we do our kids, so that may tell us where our love is.

Back to Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said it is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.” And it is not found in the animal creation, the end of verse 20, “For Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him there so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. He slept. Then He took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh in that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man. The man said this is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, they shall become one flesh.”

That is why we believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Not because it is better for the children, not because of other reasons. I may believe that is true, but it all comes back to this. It is better for the children because this is the way God created it to be; better for everybody for every reason. This is God's plan. Well, I don't feel that way. What does that have to do with it? There are people creating all kinds of atrocities because they feel and believe it is right. That doesn't make it right. This is what God says, this is the foundation. So when someone says to you, you are bigots. No, the only reason I believe it is here is what the Bible says. Well, it could be like this man said, it's an ancient work, it's out of date. I believe it is what God says.

The man and the woman are different, you'll note what God says here. He even created them differently, He created them both but He created them differently. He created them to function differently but compatibly. Another man, another woman, it's not God's plan. And it's not just procreation, it goes back just to the foundational issues. There are no children, this is still the way. That doesn't mean a man can never be single, a woman can never be single, but it won't be the normal plan. This is God's normal plan, and for some He has another plan. For whatever reasons a couple may get married and not have children, a person may never get married. It's in the plan of God, He provides for that. It is talked about by Paul and so on. But there is no alternative marriage, there is none.

Come back to Matthew 19. Some of you were here when we talked about hermeneutics, interpreting the Bible, and we talked about those who don't take the Bible literally and their problem with us who see future disaster coming as something, we should reinterpret the Bible through the coming of Christ. That's what this professor said—when we read the Bible through the lens of Jesus' redemptive life. That's my problem in covenant theology, it's a slippery slope. Now how much of the Old Testament can you rewrite because Christ has come. I say you can't rewrite any of it. They say, we rewrite, there is no future kingdom for Israel, Israel is now absorbed into the church. There is no future for the nation Israel as a nation. This man says, the other things it says we don't have to take literally, either. And we think, well, that's not that big an issue. It's a big issue.

Matthew 19, we haven't gone there, yet. The Jews have asked Jesus about marriage and divorce. Verse 3, the Pharisees, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” She burned the supper, we're divorcing. No, what did Jesus say? Did she prepare other good suppers? How many bad suppers? That's not the question. Did she do other things? That's not the answer. What did He say? “Have you not read?” Now that's a slap in the face to the Pharisees. They prided themselves in being scriptural scholars. “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” Some writing today said that Jesus didn't have anything to say about homosexuality. Well, it wasn't an issue the way it is today. Now we're saying it should be a national practice and anybody who opposes it is a hater. “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” I ask you, how did Jesus interpret Genesis? Figuratively? Spiritually? Or literally? I don't understand why you have a question. Can't you read? He made them male and female.

And He said then after He made them male and female, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. It's expressed in the physical relationship, but this is a bond that binds them. The woman, remember, was created as part of the man, distinct from him but created out of him, from a part of the man. “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” We struggle to answer questions that are already answered. Why do you believe that marriage is between a male and a female? Well, Jesus answered that question—“have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?”

So you see it's not only a matter of interpreting Genesis, now, it's do you believe Jesus was accurate? Or had He misinterpreted Genesis? Can't help them. Foundational. Once we abandon the Bible as our authority, that's why I say we don't want to get sidetracked, we don't want to get off track. I don't want to try to argue it on what is best for society, what is best for kids. The foundational reason—the Creator made us that way, that's His plan. You cannot deviate from it.

Come over to Hebrews 13 and we'll end here and all the good things I have to say to you will wait until next time. Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all. The marriage bed is to be undefiled. Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Like any sin there is forgiveness in Christ. You cannot live a life of sin and claim to be a believer. “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious,” 1 John says. Those who practice righteousness are of God, those who practice sin are of the devil. You are not saved by what you do, but when you are truly saved, remember reconciled to God, we no longer live for ourselves but for the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. The argument is should these people be deprived of happiness, be deprived of fulfilling themselves? Yes we are. That's life, you don't get everything you want. I'm being deprived of being a millionaire. I don't have a mansion on the Caribbean. I'm being deprived. I feel I deserve it. I feel I would be happier with it. Yes, anybody here want to take a collection? Probably not. But in certain realms, oh, we are so sensitive, we are so concerned about feelings and these poor people who demonstrate they have feelings for one another. What about those poor people who have feelings for children? We don't even like to voice that, yet, but there was a time when it would have been hard to talk about the homosexual issue in a public setting like this.

The Word of God has to be the final authority for us as believers. Now again when I talk to unbeliever, I don't want to go out parading around, I just want you to know the United States is going to hell in a handbasket. You just reveal what is the condition of their heart. When they ask, “what do you think about the Supreme Court decision?” Well, I was disappointed because I do believe what the Bible says about marriage, that it's between a man and a woman. But you understand, I don't believe this changes anything. It's just revealing what was in the heart of these people all along. If I were on an interview program on TV and they say, do you think homosexuality is sin and they are going to hell? I would say, “well, let me say that the Bible says all have sinned. I believe you are a sinner and you are going to hell; I was a sinner going to hell. So yes, those who practice sin and have never experienced the forgiveness and redemption that is in Christ are going to hell. But you understand, there are no exceptions. All have sinned, there is none righteous.”

So you have to be careful you don't get drawn in because they want to say how bigoted you are, how hateful you are. I might say, do you think stealing is sin? Do you have kleptophobia, from the Greek word for stealing, do you have kleptophobia? Do you think stealing is sin? What about those poor people who feel drawn to steal? Well, it's wrong. Why? The Supreme Court said so. Well if the Supreme Court says stealing is okay, would it be okay?

We as believers are not surprised the world is in rebellion against the Word of God and they express it more openly. So we want to be careful. We don't change our convictions, we cannot hide those convictions. But we don't come from a position of superiority—they are so vile, this is so terrible. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Jesus said all kinds of sin comes bubbling out of our hearts. That's why we have to start and bring them to salvation in Christ, who changes the heart and makes us new. And we can thank God for the grace we've experienced and we can share that grace with others.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace. Lord, we see what is going on in the world around us. It's not surprising, it's disappointing in our own country that has experienced such blessing, grace from You, yet, Lord, we realize something of the sinfulness of the human heart. And Lord, we realize we were just like them, consumed by our lusts, living for self, for sin, for the devil. But Your grace changed us, made us new, enabled us now by the indwelling power of the Spirit to live lives that are pleasing to you. We can understand even some of the allurements of sin that come to us as redeemed, and Lord, we want to be faithful to You and honor You. Thank You for Your grace, thank You for Your salvation, thank You for the truth that has been entrusted to us to share with others. We pray in Christ's name, amen.