God’s View of Homosexuality

Transcript

GRM 1101
10/28/2012
God’s View of Homosexuality
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We recently have worked through a series of what the Scripture says about the family. And I want to conclude that study with you today by talking about an area that’s much under discussion. And we have talked about it on other occasions, but it has to do with the subject of homosexuality, marriage, and what is becoming such a big issue in our day. Not only in our country, but in the world. The debate on whether people of the same sex can be married goes on in our country, but it’s not only in our country. I recently read that there are ten countries in the world so far that have legitimized homosexual-type marriages. And that procedure just grows. Leaders in our country have taken strong positions that this is acceptable behavior, and the pressure grows on those who hold a different view.

I have a folder of many articles, and I was tempted to read them to you. But I may, then again, I may not. This one was from the World Herald. This is from May of 2012 and it has the president expressing his change of viewpoint. “That at a certain point, I had just concluded that for me personally, it’s important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

Interesting thing is that they take a poll of people who would be in favor of such action and those who wouldn’t. And you can’t see the numbers, but at the top, sixty-one percent of those born since 1981 would support same sex marriage. When you get down to my age group, only thirty percent. And that will diminish, because old people die. But you can see where the trend is going. Interesting in this article as well. Across the top of the paper, I’m sure you can read those numbers, it shows the same sex timeline. And they begin it in 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders and urges an end to discrimination against gays. Interesting the impact that certain actions have and psychologist and psychiatrist have become the new spiritual authorities. The witch doctors, if you will, as one article that I have here refers to them.

There’s a publication that was printed in our city, the post office box here in Lincoln. “Is homosexuality sin?” And it interviews a number of religious leaders. There are more than a dozen, probably twenty, just thumbing through, I didn’t count them. Of everyone from Baptist, to Episcopal, to Jewish, to a number of Jewish rabbis interviewed, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and so on, on their understanding of what the Bible says about homosexuality. And I’ll just read you some of the conclusion after all these interviews of what they have to say if I can find a good summary. They say, “For us humans, truth as we see it is never absolute. Nor is it constant. As we mature and gain new insights and experiences, we may adjust our concepts of truth, replace them with new concepts or strengthen earlier ones. As anticipated, the answers of the religious leaders are not all identical, but they share common beliefs.” Then they go through on the major areas in their interviews with them. Then the conclusion, “We are living in a fast paced world, inherited from our ancestors. Full of rich resources and wisdom, yet, as we split the atom, land on the moon, and develop vaccines against deadly disease, we learn that earlier books of wisdom, including the Bible, may not always have held what we today know and believe to be the truth. We have to reinterpret and modify some ideas, concepts once believed to be quote ‘Gospel Truth’ Including the notion that God considers homosexuality as wrong and sinful. Over the century, this misinterpretation of certain Biblical passages has caused great suffering to millions of gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals.”

And one of the characteristics of all of the religious leaders that they interviewed from all these different areas was a common agreement, “That we note today, homosexuality is not sin.” Now they come to that from various ways of looking at the Scripture. One Jewish rabbi, I appreciate his honesty, said there is no doubt the Hebrew Scriptures teach clearly that homosexuality is sin. Furthermore, it is a personal responsibility, not a genetic birth issue. Because the penalty for such action is death, and that would only be true when a person is personally accountable and responsible for his condition. But his conclusion is, “I just don’t believe it’s true for us today. I don’t hold myself submissive to the teachings of the Scriptures. Others, this has all been overcome by love and we ought to read the Scriptures through what the basic central concept is….love. Love among individuals, homosexual, heterosexual, and the love of God that is given to all individuals. So, we can conclude the Bible is an old book, out of date in so many areas.”

This doesn’t surprise us with unbelievers. But it is a concern for believers. You know, Romans 12 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the making new of your mind.” That’s what enables us to be discerning regarding the will of God. Concerned, I want to read the change that is occurring among evangelicals regarding homosexual marriage. In this poll taken in, well it’s printed in May of this year, it’s relatively recent. In 1988, eighty-five percent of those who claimed to be born again Christians, opposed same sex marriage. In 2010, only fifty-nine percent of those who said they were born again Christians opposed homosexual marriage. That’s a twenty-six percent swing. That’s a lot of people. A high percentage.

Has the Scripture changed? I was interested in a number of articles regarding Christian schools, Christian colleges, and the changes they are undergoing on this matter. One well known Christian institution struggles, and a number of them struggle. One of the articles is titled “Generally Evangelical Institution Schools Grappling with this.” Wheaton College, I believe this article is from Time Magazine, just about a year ago. There, they have a group, an alumni group not officially sanctioned by Wheaton, but of Wheaton graduates who are homosexuals. They call themselves “One Wheaton.” They come to homecoming, to athletic events, have their own t-shirts, and have 350 people who access their group. That’s out of an evangelical college. Their doctrinal statement is that homosexuality is sin. You can be dismissed from Wheaton for homosexuality. However, the president of the school says their attitude can be summed up by saying, “Welcoming, but not affirming is probably a good way of describing our attitude.” What does that mean? Is it sin, or isn’t it? How can you welcome those who are open not only in practicing sin, but in promoting sin as acceptable among the school’s acclaims to be evangelical? Where is the stand on what is sin, what is not acceptable, and who is not welcome? Interesting move.

Calvin College is a reformed college outside Chicago. They claim to adhere to reformed doctrine. But, Calvin’s commitment to traditional reformed teaching seems to be fraying at the edges on theology-rooted issues such as origins. They no longer hold to a Biblical account of creation. They’re open to all views, on that, feminist theology and homosexuality. The school’s policy and curricula have drifted away from Scripture. In 2001, they invited a lesbian singing group to perform on campus. Interesting, they did that in 2001, and there was strong opposition to it. They even had a special forum to discuss the matter. The next year, they invited the same lesbian group back, and there was no opposition, and there was no discussion.

What happens to believers? The attitudes that grow so common press in upon us, and pretty soon we find ways to be accepting of them. The vice president of the school explained it this way: “Science has not given us a definitive answer on the origins of same sex attraction. So homosexuals deserve compassion.” What about what the Bible says about it? You claim to be a school based and founded on the Scripture. And it goes on.

In 2002, Calvin observed what they call ribbon week. During which heterosexual students wear ribbons to show support for those who desire to sleep with people of the same sex. We expected that the world would be in opposition to the truth of Scripture, but when those who claim to hold to the Scripture begin to twist the Scripture so that it can fit with the world, we have serious difficulty. That presses in on us as a church, us as believers. We like to think it doesn’t, but look at the changing attitudes in so many areas of the thinking of the church. A number of years ago, I was on a call-in program in Chicago on the role of women. I presented what the Bible says about the role of women. Afterwards, when I met with the board of the radio station, they said, “We couldn’t carry your program. It’s too controversial.” I said, “What’s controversial? I haven’t said anything here that your school hasn’t held down through the years of its existence.”

Well today it’s different. Look at the attitude of the church on divorce, on immorality. What do people do that get disciplined at Indian Hills? They go to another evangelical church and are welcomed. What does one say? Well, everybody does things that are wrong. Nobody’s perfect. And we’re just not going to get into judging. Just call yourself a Bible believing church. I was thankful as I was re-reading through my material that I keep, a couple of file cabinets. Then I have my general file which is a desk in the back of my office where I keep all of my stacks. And I know where things are in there, but I happened to come across a letter that I had received a few years ago by an individual that had been disciplined at Indian Hills. This gentleman wrote me, the discipline occurred many years ago, but he wrote me a letter a couple of years ago to thank Indian Hills for our position on church discipline, and he hoped it wouldn’t change because of how that had made a difference in his life in dealing with sin. The Lord does use it.

My concern is that we as a church don’t begin to find ways to adjust. The pressures there, I come from Philadelphia area, and they had a disagreement. This was about Chick-fil-A. And I’m not promoting Chick-fil-A, I’ve never eaten at a Chick-fil-A. That doesn’t say they’re good or bad, I just have never had an occasion to eat at one. But the owner of Chick-fil-A said when asked by a reporter of a Christian publication, “What is your view on it these days?” He said, “I hold firmly to a Biblical view of marriage as between one man and one woman.” Out of that, you’re aware of all the news that came up. One of the city councilmen in the city of Philadelphia said, “A person and a business representing such hate and discrimination would not be welcomed to do business in our city.”

Of course, Chicago is well known, because the mayor of that city said the same thing, “We would do what we could to prevent them.” The mayor said, “They’re not welcome to come to our city, because they don’t represent the value of our city.” That kind of pressure begins to be put on Christians. One from the city, Ron Brown, when he expressed his opinion in Omaha. I have an article that was written in the Lincoln Paper, where a member of the school board said he should be fired for such hate speech. Hate becomes the key word. Hate, hate, hate. People who are opposing homosexual conduct, homosexual marriage, hate. We’ve moved from any kind of orderly, rational, even discussion about it. This is my view, and why, this is my view, and why. To an emotional, that’s hate. That’s hate speech, that’s discrimination. We can’t tolerate it. So the school member board said he ought to be fired for saying that, shouldn’t be able to hold a job in the city if he’s going to hold that kind of view. He shouldn’t be able to do business, he shouldn’t be able to hold a job, because it’s hate!

I have an article in the file here, that one well known psychiatrist says, “Those who opposed homosexuality are manifesting a mental disorder that may impair their ability to exercise good judgement.” This should remind you of when you watch the news reels from the history of World War II, and you see in Nazi Germany the Jews were not allowed to do business in this city. People opposing their business. We look at that and say, “Oh, that’s terrible,” but somehow, where was the uprising in the city of Chicago? I’m not just talking about believers, but from unbelievers who have said, “Wait, if our mayor says that a person who would say they hold to a Biblical view of marriage between a man and woman, is not qualified to have a business in our city? He doesn’t represent our values?”

One thing, the unbeliever, under the surface, has a unified world view and a unified opinion. On the surface, there’s diversity. But it is the Biblical view against everything else. We ought to be aware of that and be careful that we don’t allow the world to begin to shape us. Pretty soon, we’re intimidated. I don’t want to be viewed as hateful. I don’t want to be viewed as unloving. I don’t want to be viewed as discriminatory. Well, what’s the solution? Don’t present a Biblical position. I mean, is there any of the sins that become, you know, anger? Well, anger’s not a sin, you just need to take an anger management course. You can’t help it. Kids don’t know how to behave. When I went to school, my dad didn’t know about attention deficit disorder. Today, well we have to give them a pill. I mean, they can’t help it. They get angry, they don’t want to pay attention. I don’t want to pay attention either! When I voted, I wanted to quit school after the 3rd grade! My dad didn’t know how he was damaging my poor young psyche. But what? No, it’s not sin, we need anger management. Nobody has had to responsibly delve into it. It’s getting worse.

We have representatives from Harvard, and other key schools that met together, 38, with an organization that’s promoting child sex relationships. And they are promoting the American Psychiatric Association to change its evaluation of this kind of conduct even as they did for homosexuality in 1973. You know where that’s going. There is no bottom to the pit of sin. “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above ALL things.” Only the Lord knows the depths of the depravity of the universe. We say, “Oh it’d never go that far. Never go that far, never go that far, never go that far.” And it goes that far. Who would’ve thought that in my age, I would say, “I would never have dreamed that I’d live to see the day that people were not only open to letting people practice immorality, but they would be promoting a lifestyle, and accept it, and recognize it as marriage.”

You know, there’s never been any nation, down to our day…. I read some articles on Rome as I was looking into this area, some of the writers of New Testament time. We think of the Romans and their depravity, and there was great depravity there. It never even came as a possibility that they were recommending that it’d be recognized as marriages. In fact, some of the prominent Roman writers even wrote against such practices. There was that kind of openness. But no, we’ve come down now, and we want to validate it.

I just want to review with you, somewhat briefly, about what the Bible says about homosexuality and marriage. There is no doubt about what the scripture says on this. Those who say there is a possibility of a different view are guilty of what 2nd Peter Chapter 3 says. Those who are twisting the Scripture to their own destruction. Oh, you just think you’re right, and your interpretation’s right. No, I think the Scripture is correct. And I think God is clear when He speaks.

So, we’ll start where we started in our study on marriage, back in Genesis Chapter 1. One of the arguments used against those who say the Bible teaches against immorality of all kinds, including homosexuality, say, “Well, there’s only a few passages.” Well there doesn’t have to be many passages. And it’s such a foundational issue in Scripture that there’s not a lot to be said about it. We start out in Genesis 1 with a summary of creation. And then, in verse 26, God said, “Let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the rest of creation.” Verse 27, “God created man in His own image. In the image of God he created Him, male and female He created them.”

Now we get back into the battle we talked about with marriage on the roles of men and women. But you don’t use man referring to men and women today, that’s sexist. But God started it out. He created man, male and female. We want to break down and dissolve the distinctions. The Evangelical church gets influenced by this. I mean, how many concentrate on wanting to train our young women to be good mothers and good wives? We don’t go to school, we don’t want to do this, we don’t want to do that. We begin to look more like the world. I’m not against women getting training and going to school, but we lose our perspective and pretty soon we’re just like the world. They don’t want to acknowledge any difference and break that down.

Is it any wonder that we’ve come to where we are? We come into chapter 2 when God gave the details of the creation. First He “created man” in verse 7, “from the dust of the ground. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Then put man in the garden to tend the garden. Verse 18, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him.’” What we’re getting is an expansion and a filling in of details not given in chapter 1. The end of chapter 1, in verse 31, “God said everything was good.” Remember when we looked at this. Because He created man as male and female. Chapter 2 tells us the details unfolding that. At this point, when man is just male, it’s not good for him to be alone. “I will make a helper suitable for him, fitted to him.” There is no helper fitted to him in the other creation. In verse 20, the end of the verse, “For Adam, there was not found a helper suitable for him. God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at 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, and 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 mother, and cleave to his wife. They shall become one flesh.” That’s what? The woman’s created out of the man. There’s a oneness there.

And now, in the marriage relationship, they’re brought back together in a relationship of oneness, which is expressed in the sexual oneness in the consummation of the marriage. We talked about these matters in the sexual aspect of marriage. This is the foundation of everything. That’s why there’s such an attack on the opening chapters of Genesis. Oh well, you don’t interpret it literally, it’s creation genre and all this and that. Christ interprets it literally.

Come over to Matthew 19. I realize we did this some time ago when we started our study on marriage and the family. Come to Matthew 19. Jesus is asked by the Pharisees, and they’re the conservatives. Remember the Sadducees are the liberals in Israel. Denying the supernatural, the existence of angels, the resurrection, and so on. The Pharisees are the more conservative, and yet they have a question about divorce. So they ask in verse 3, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” Verse 4 of Matthew 19, “Jesus answered and said, ‘Have you not read?’” That’s a slap in the face, as we noted, to the Pharisees. Proud of themselves and their knowledge of the Scripture, and teaching of the Scripture. “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” Let’s start out, what did He create? One man, one woman. And said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh. They’re no longer two, but one. What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Now, what’s the problem? I mean, are you understanding the Scripture literally? In its context as God gave it? They’re not thinking, well Jesus doesn’t say, “In that account of creation,” no. Here it’s exactly as it is. God says He created man as male and female. Jesus said that’s what He did. Then He took her out of the man and brought them, they were joined in marriage. That’s it. Ok, that’s foundational to everything. The woman is the perfect counterpart to the man, what’s necessary to complement the man. Not another man, we don’t need male bonding. Scratch that off. Nothing wrong about having men who are friends, and to have women who are friends. But that’s not where the basic foundational relationship is. It’s the woman who completes the man, and the man finds completion in the woman. The helper fitted especially for him. And the man and the woman are to be joined in marriage.

Like I said, it’s such a concept. What arrogance we have today! That in the thousand years of history, we have no record of a nation that has devised homosexual marriage, but we’ve come to recognize it. We are the really enlightened ones. Of course, in the process of evolution we have evolved to greater enlightenment. The reality of it is that God’s truth is unchanging. You know, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 4, “In marriage, the bed is undefiled. Adulterers and fornicators, God will judge.” We don’t want to make the mistake that God says the people through the prophecy said, “You thought I was like you.” So, we just think that an opinion poll has been taken and now this percentage of the people and this percentage of the people and this percentage of the people, therefore, let’s see the way that God thinks, and what God approves.

It isn’t so. That is truly a fatal mistake. Genesis 19, Sodom and Gomorrah. Some people say that this is a problem of lack of friendship, lack of hospitality. God says clearly what the issue is with Sodom and Gomorrah. Back up to chapter 18, verse 20. “The Lord said, ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Their sin is exceedingly grave.’” They’re not talking about the fact that they’re not very hospitable. You come to chapter 19, and you’re familiar with the account. We don’t have to go through it. Where the angels come because God has determined now is the time for judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin. And He’s going to destroy the cities, He’s going to deliver Lot and his family. Now the principle that we’ve talked about as we look at Scripture. That principle is a ripening for judgement.

You’re in Genesis, come to chapter 15. God is reiterating His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. And then in Genesis 15, verse 13, God said to Abraham, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. They’ll be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will judge the nation they’ll serve and they’ll come out after that with many possessions.” Then note in verse 16, “In the fourth generation, they will return here. For the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” God talks to Abraham and says, “Your descendants are going to be in Egypt and under oppression for four hundred years.” God’s got several purposes going, but one of these is the fact that what? The time for judgement on the Canaanites in the land God is going to give Israel has not come. Four hundred years!! Wow, I think you could bring judgement sooner than that. In God’s timetable, His judgement will come. You think, “Oh fifty years go by, a hundred years go by, two hundred years go by, three hundred years, forget it, God’s not going to judge the Canaanites.” He’s not going to judge them one day before their iniquity is complete, or one day after.

So, we look around and see what’s going on and wring our hands. The process that is going on is true for individuals, it’s true for nations, it’s true for the world. Here we see a collection of nations, the Amorites, the Canaanite people that will be wiped out, men, women, and children is the instruction of God. The New Testament talks about individuals storing up wrath for themselves. Come over to Romans chapter 2. Verse 4, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, and tolerance, and patience? Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God.” They make the mistake. People are sitting and getting away with it. Nothing’s happening. If I was God, I’d judge them. But God is patient. God is forgiving, but God is never unjust. You’ll note the individual here is “storing up wrath in the day of wrath,” it’s building.

Why hasn’t God intervened? Because it’s not built to completion yet. So, it’s for individuals, it’s for nations, it’s for the world in the coming seven-year tribulation, climaxing at Armageddon. We’ve talked about that in our studies of Revelation prophecy to remind us of that. So in that sense, what we see going on in the world is a reminder of God’s judgement. Sodom and Gomorrah, proverbial for their wickedness and vileness, and Sodom gives its name to that particular sinful activity. It’s used in the New Testament, 2nd Peter chapter 3, and Jude verse 7 as an example of God’s righteous judgement on iniquity to remind us not to think that God will not bring judgement. These prior acts of God’s judgement are a reminder of the assurance of coming judgement on sin.

Go back to the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus. I’m aware that people say, “Well, you pick and choose from the law.” We’re going to Leviticus 18, and certain laws in the Old Testament, you wear clothes with mixed materials in them, other of the laws you don’t observe, you just pick out what you want. And you pick on the poor homosexuals.” Well, it’s not always possible to clarify for people because it takes time, how you properly handle Scripture. And you’re right. The Mosaic Law is no longer binding on us today. But certain truths in the Mosaic Law are carried over and made applicable to us today. And these instructions regarding immorality are included. Verse 22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.” Verse 24, “Reminder, do not defile yourself by any of these things, but by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. The land has become defiled. Therefore, I have brought it’s punishment upon it.” So, the land is spewed out, its inhabitance. God reminds the Jews, “Don’t forget. I am bringing judgement on the Canaanite peoples for their sin. Now don’t think that you can commit the same sins and avoid the assurance of judgement.”

There are other passages here, but we’ll skip that and jump over to Judges 19. Now, we don’t have time to read the account, but in Judges 19, there is a Levite that is a concubine, she leaves and is unfaithful to him. He goes to get her and bring her back to his home. And on the trip, he needs to stay for the night, and he doesn’t want to stay in a city that’s not Israelite. So he waits and goes to an Israelite city under the tribe of Benjamin. During that time, the men of the city come and beat on the door and talk to the owner. And in verse 22 of Judges 19, they’re celebrating, “The men of the city, certain worthless fellows surrounded the house, pounding the door. They spoke to the owner of the house and said, ‘Bring out the man that came into your house so that we may have relations with him.” This is the tribe of Benjamin. The city in the tribe of Benjamin. These are the Jews!! I mean, this is just like Sodom and Gomorrah all over again! Remember when God warned the Jews, “Don’t do it. I will bring judgement on you.” For this sin, the tribe of Benjamin is almost annihilated. Because the rest of the Jews have to deal with it, or God would deal with them.

So, what you see here is the danger of the thinking of the world. How did that become acceptable in Israel? You live in a world where these perverse practices become acceptable, and pretty soon we just don’t think they’re that bad. I know some people who are homosexual, and they’re nice people. And they seem to have a nice home. They live together, and they’ve even adopted a couple of kids and they seem to be good parents. Can that be bad? Oh wait a minute. Who is the judge to determine what is sin and what is not? We get softened by the world. Turn on the TV. Marilyn and I like to watch the house programs. We’re to that age where you sit down and turn the innocuous stuff. But who’s buying the house? I don’t want to use a name, I might embarrass somebody. But this man and this man. Or this woman and this woman. And they’re buying a house, and oh, aren’t they nice people? All of a sudden we’re thinking we’ve been softened toward it. It’s not so bad. I don’t want to be hateful, I don’t want to be thought to be hateful and unloving. And pretty soon we don’t want to talk about Scripture and tell them, “You’re in sin. God’s going to judge you.” I mean, I don’t want to have to tell them that. So we’ll just not say anything.

And then we raise our kids in this environment where, well, it is acceptable. Of course, they go to schools now and they’re taught that it’s acceptable. This is just as much a family as any family. And pretty soon we raise the next generation and we have kids come out of the Christian schools starting an alumni association for Christian of those who are practicing this. Where does it stop? Come to Romans chapter 1. You know we have to go to Romans 1. And in Romans 1, God says there’s no excuse. Verse 18, “The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness. Unrighteous is the man who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.” That’s true of everyone from the highest leaders down to the lowest person who is advocating such a thing. They are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. They know better in their heart. That’s because God says it. Oh, they don’t know better, they think it’s ok. No they don’t. These are men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. “Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power, divine nature are being clearly seen. Being understood what has been made.” They’re without excuse. There’s enough revelation in creation to render a man guilty. Even though there’s not enough revelation in creation to save him, because all men react negatively to the revelation that is there. They suppress the obvious.

The more we learned about scientific information and the intricacy of the creation of the universe, the more obstinate and open that man becomes in his rebellion against God. There’s no excuse. Even though they knew God. You probably have some of these things underlined in your Bible. They are without excuse at the end of verse 20. Verse 21, “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, give thanks, they became futile in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened.” Sometimes sin makes you stupid. It does! They became empty in their thinking and reasoning. “Professing to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.”

That’s not just worshipping, like we’d say, Pagan people in some far of country. What do we do here? We worship man. And the things man can control. “Therefore God gave them over,” Now here you see this open manifestation of sin as a result of God removing what we might call common grace, restraining grace on unregenerate people. “Therefore, God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”

You’ll note, this is a result of man who has been clearly confronted with the reality of the awesome God through all of creation. Yet he suppresses that knowledge, refuses to acknowledge God. God turns them over to their sinful desires. What do they do? They multiply their sin in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. Their desires are fully corrupted. Their bodies would be dishonored. They exchange the truth of God for a lie, worship and serve the creation. God gave them over to degrading passions. Women exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural. Sin nature, that’s why for the thousand years of human history, we haven’t had countries and nations that have established homosexual marriage. Built into the very creation we recognize the vileness of that. But in our day, now we magnify that vileness. “Women with women,” Verse 27, “In the same way, men abandoned the natural function of the women and burned in their natural desire toward one another.” They have that desire, they must be born with it.

We’re talking about their sin as those who have rejected the living God. “Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own person the penalty of their error. They didn’t see fit to acknowledge God, so God gave them over to sin.” There’s a multiplying of this as we move toward the climax of the age. There is more of an open display of man’s rebellion and rejection of God. And more intolerance to those who would point it out. They don’t want to hear it. That’s sin. They don’t want to hear that it manifests your guilt before God.

Homosexuality is not the only sin, there’s all kinds of sins listed here that go with it. But He elaborates on that sin. Why that sin? Because that is a sin that carries us beyond even the natural boundaries that God established at creation. That’s on the level of man with animal. That’s an abomination to God as Leviticus described. Here we have it as indecent. It didn’t say that their desires aren’t strong. One thing we want to remember. We are born sinners. We are born under condemnation. We want to be careful. Our desires are corrupted. And to think, “Well, because they have the desire.”

I have an article in my file. A man who has a doctor’s degree. It’s like college, it’s like Harvard University. He’s being sentenced to prison for child sex. You know what his statement is? “I was born this way. Why can’t you people accept that?” I said, “Well that’s a vile thing to say!” But we accept it today. All these people were born this way. They desire same-sex union. They can’t help it. They’re not responsible. God says, “They’re without excuse. We want to be careful. Just because I have a desire, doesn’t validate the desire. We live that way, that people don’t have a desire to be faithful to their husband or to their wife anymore. So they leave them and find someone that they have a desire for until that desire weans.

We say, “Well, it’s just life.” It’s life controlled by sin in rebellion against God. Note verse 32, “Although they know the ordinance of God,” These are people that cannot claim ignorance. No one will ever be able to claim ignorance before God. He says they suppress the truth. They’re without excuse. “They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death. They not only do the same,” now note this, “they give hearty approval to those who practice them.” What are we doing today? Giving hearty approval to those who practice them. We may not practice it ourselves, but we approve those who do it. And now what? We want to practice laws that will encourage it. We want to declare from positions of authority, that this is acceptable, that this is right. It’s a sign of our rebellion against God. It’s a sign of those, you come down into chapter 2, their continued rejection of the revelation that God has given in creation, and then in special revelation in His Word, they’re just “storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath in revelation of the righteous judgement of God.” Truth has not changed. We don’t make our own truth. God’s Word is truth. Jesus said it in John 17:17 with His prayer to the Father, “Your word is truth.” Isaiah 8, the prophet said, “If they do not agree with this revelation, it is because they have no dawn, they have no light, they are in darkness.”

Turn over to 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 8. We need to read two passages. 1st Timothy 1:8, “The law is good if one uses it lawfully realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, those who kill fathers and mothers, for murderers, immoral men, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers.” You see that list. These are things, “contrary to sound teaching,” the end of verse 10, and in verse 11, “which is according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God.” Now there is salvation for sinners. And Paul says, “I don’t write because I’m less a sinner, rather I was the chief of sinners, but God in grace saved me.”

We don’t help people by minimizing the reality of their sin and the awfulness of their condition. That’s not helpful. I don’t want to go to my doctor for an appointment and have him say, “Well, you know Gil, you’re looking good. Yep! I think you’re looking good.” When he knows that I have something serious and fatal going on in me. “Oh, but you wouldn’t feel good, I’d ruin your day if I told you that. We could do surgery and fix it, but wouldn’t you rather go out and enjoy this fall day?” No! That’s fatal! But somehow, we think, “Well, we tell people the truth of God and the salvation that can cleanse them from their defilement and set them free and make them new. But oh, that’s not nice. That’s hateful.” I tell you, what is hateful, is when the surgeon doesn’t tell me my condition, and what would fix it. That layers it over. Well, you’re feeling good, and it’s a beautiful day, go enjoy it. That’s inexcusable.

One more passage on this, 1st Corinthians chapter 6. Let me say something. People say, “Well, you can be a homosexual as long as you’re not practicing.” We act like homosexuality is a condition. Homosexuality is sin. You know, there are people who say, “I just was not made to be a one-woman man.” No, you’re just a sinner who wants to pursue your sinful desires. We want to clarify that. Homosexuality is not a condition. “Well, you can be a Christian homosexual as long as you don’t practice it.” A Christian homosexual? What is that? So I guess that’s a condition you’re born with. Just like I’m a man and wasn’t born to be a one-woman man. What do you mean by that? You have sinful desires that you might like to pursue, but that’s not the condition you are. I wasn’t born to be an honest person. I’m just a thief by nature. Well I am, by my fallen nature. So people have this idea that, “I’m a Christian homosexual, but I don’t practice it.” As though that was some kind of disorder. The disorder is sin.

We have to be careful, or we begin to confuse things here. Look in 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” If we’re all true believers, we’ll arrive someday in the kingdom. The kingdom that Christ will establish on this earth. And all of us in our glorified, or non-glorified bodies will be a part of that. Note what he says here: “Such were some of you. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit of our God.” That’s the power of God’s salvation. You are no longer what you were. “Oh, I’m a thief. I’m just not practicing.” What do you mean? “I’m covetous, but I’m not practicing. I’m homosexual, but I’m not practicing.”

We confuse things and take it out of the realm of sin. That’s not what I am. I am a new creature in Christ. I have been “washed, sanctified, set apart, made holy, justified, declared righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus in the Spirit of God.” That’s what I am. Now it’s not fully redeemed as in the sense of fully glorified. The redemption we had in Christ is full. But the full realization with glorification and the total freedom from sin and sinful desires is not there. So I want to be careful. But don’t make the error either that we’ve talked about on other occasions. We love the sinner and hate the sin. There is no sin apart from the sinner. Sin is not something that floats around like a cloud in the air and all of a sudden gets you. No, sin comes from within. Where? Out of the human heart. “It’s out of the heart,” Jesus said in Mark 7. All kinds of sin comes. Praise God there is salvation. There is deliverance.

What about those in Christian places who are claiming to be Christians? I read a review of a new book that’s out, written by a man who claims to be a believer. You read what he says about his faith in Christ, and you say, “Seems straight.” But he’s writing about how he’d finally come to understand after battling with homosexual desires for so long, that really God’s intention for him was to have a loving relationship. He’s writing the book to encourage others to follow that route. What do you do with 1st Corinthians 6? Homosexuals “will not inherit the kingdom. Not everybody who says, ‘Lord, lord,’ will inherit the kingdom. Matthew chapter 7, “those who do the will of my Father.” We’re talking about homosexuality, because you can’t live in sin and claim to belong to the Lord. I’m glad God makes us new. I am what I am by the grace of God. Not because I’m less of a sinner than someone else. We looked at passages in Ephesians 2, we were “dead in our trespasses and sins.” Titus 3, we were “just like them.”

So we don’t speak from a position of superiority. We speak from a position of God’s grace, having experiences of cleansing, offering that cleansing. But there can be no yielding on the position of sin as sin. And the only solution of sin is not to develop an acceptance of it. But to bow in repentance before the God who has provided salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son. And experience being washed, being sanctified, being set apart for God Himself and declared righteous. That’s the love we offer to people. This is how we know the love of God, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your grace. Your patience, Your long suffering. Lord, each of us who have been redeemed, can testify of grace that was shown to us day after day as You patiently drew us. Our rebellion, stubbornness, love for our sin, selfishness. Yet Lord in Your mercy and grace, You drew us to salvation through faith in Christ. Lord may we be instruments that are bold for You in these days. May we not be intimated by a world that is an open opposition to You. That declares sin to be right, and right to be sin. Thank You for Your truth that is unchanging and sure in these unsettled days. Pray that we might be faithful personally and as a church. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.