TPW 24 | Repentance Unto Life & "Revoice"

Repentance, Warning Against Heresy, and the Call to Warfare for the Truth

Paul warns that evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving one another and being deceived. The reason Paul told Timothy that was because he needed to be ready to spend the balance of his life in uninterrupted warfare for the truth.

The most dangerous people alive today are always, always, always ordained ministers. They're the most dangerous people in the world, especially the ones that people think are Christians, who will sell you theological poison to the damnation of your soul.

Folks, I just want to warn you about something. Every heretic in the entire history of the church, without exception, has taught their heresy in the name of being faithful to Scripture. What happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross?

That was the day of wrath. That was the day of judgment. That is the day of final salvation. Brought back in time and applied to us once for all at the moment of our effectual calling when we repent and believe in our.

Unity to Christ. Welcome to the Protestant Witness. This is Pastor Patrick Hines here at Bidwell Heights Presbyterian Church, and.

I wanted to go ahead and post a sermon I preached this past Sunday night. I've been working through the Westminster Confession for a really long time now. I think the sermon I preached was the 54th sermon, and we've been talking about the doctrine of repentance, and that is an essential truth.

Very, very important, especially since it's not preached a lot today in evangelistic appeals. But I applied the doctrine of repentance specifically to the issue of the Revoice Conference, and I wanted to address some of those things because I think that the biblical doctrine of repentance and what God does to a person when they are effectually called and how he breaks the power of their slavery to sin and yokes them to Christ, that's really missing.

And this whole idea of gay celibate Christianity. Now, there's a lot of really, really good articles out there on the internet on Revoice and people who are very, very able have addressed themselves to these issues.

I reviewed, as if you've listened to this podcast, a couple of the speakers there at Revoice, and I've sent, you know, an email to the Revoice website asking some questions because I noticed that Nate Collins, who says that he is a Side B person, meaning that he does not believe that gay sex or gay marriage is okay, but he believes that those things are sinful, is speaking at a conference called Devoted, and Devoted is aimed at youth, but some of the other speakers there are Side A people.

What does that mean? It means that they are full-blown proponents of gay marriage and gay sex, and one of the co-speakers there is a female minister who is married to another woman, and also I found on her website she does pre-marriage counseling for gay couples and will marry them.

And I thought, how can he in good conscience, if he is committed to what Revoice says on its website, that they are committed to the traditional and biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality, how can he be comfortable addressing these very issues, the LGBT issues, to supposedly Christian youth with these individuals that do not hold his position?

I don't understand how he can be comfortable doing that. So I sent an email through their website. I'm not sure if I'll get a response to it, but just pointing out, you know, the website claims to be a Side B proponent, but your founder is speaking at a conference with Side A proponents.

And I would think that if you really are committed to trying to follow at least the biblical teachings on the actions regarding these issues, that you would not be comfortable doing that. So I think that that's an important issue.

But anyway, this is a sermon I preached this past Sunday night, and I think that this is probably going to be the last thing I have to say about this issue, because I'm kind of getting worn out from it.

But when these kinds of issues come up, I can't help but feel a sense of obligation to give a good answer to this kind of thing. I've listened very carefully to the talks that are on the YouTube channel for Revoice from the conference that was done at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis.

I listened to all those talks three times each, and also the church secretary here has been transcribing them with timestamps so we can document stuff. So I've done my homework on this. I'm also working through Nate Collins's book, All But Invisible, and there's a couple other books I've bought recently.

I haven't started working through them by some of the other speakers. I just feel like it's important to to know this stuff and to understand exactly where these folks are coming from so you can hear them in their own words, defining their own terms.

But make no mistake about it, everyone. This is the sexual revolution. Come to our doorstep. There's no question about it. For them to say that they are holding to the historic Christian and biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality, I think in and of itself is not true because there's no precedent historically that I can think of of people identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, along with being a professing Christian.

It really smacks of trying to serve two masters because these behaviors and desires are condemned in Scripture very, very clearly. And so for people to still be hanging on to them, is that really repentance in the biblical sense of that word?

Now, that doesn't mean that Christians don't struggle with sin. They do. We all do. But I don't identify myself as a particular form of sin because that's completely inappropriate. It is an abomination to my God.

I serve the Lord. God has taken me away from sin and has yoked me to his Son, Jesus Christ, and I want to serve him. I hate my sin now. I fight against my sin now. I certainly don't embrace it as a badge of honor or take pride in it or see it as having its own unique cultural contribution.

No, not at all. The sin that we were saved out of is cast into the sea of forgetfulness and thrown as far as the East is from the West. So I hope that this is edifying to you. I hope you find it helpful as the church continues to try to stand its ground against the pull to deny what the Word of God teaches.

2 Corinthians 7 and the Meaning of Repentance Unto Life

Good evening, everyone. Please take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 8 through 11 will be our Scripture reading for this evening. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 8 through 11.

This is a sermon on repentance with special attention to what was called the Revoice Conference, and I'll explain a little bit more about that in a moment. But we are technically still in the Westminster Confession.

I just wanted to let you know that this is a special sermon on repentance. 2 Corinthians 7 verses 8 through 11. This is God's Word. For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it.

For I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while. I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you.

What vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong. In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let's pray, please. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your grace to us, and we know that you are indeed holy and that you cannot look upon or prove sin in any way, shape, or form in us and in this world.

We pray that you would help us understand this precious truth of repentance, that you are indeed a God who calls us to turn from all sin in our lives, whatever those sins may be. We pray that you would help us to recognize the revolution that's going on in the culture around us, and that without question that revolution is trying to come into the church, and may we stand our ground against it.

That those who are swept in it may come to know Christ and repent and turn away from it, and we pray that you would help us to be faithful to you, no matter what happens, and no matter how much compromise or capitulation there is to this revolution.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. In his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, John Murray wrote,. Apart from regeneration, our thought of God, of ourselves, of sin, and of righteousness is radically perverted.

Regeneration changes our hearts and minds. It radically renews them. Hence, there is a radical change in our thinking and feeling. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new. While our justification is entirely outside of us and has absolutely, positively no reference of any kind to any subjective change in us at all, every justified person, because they have been converted and made alive in Christ, will be marked with a totally new outlook on life.

When true repentance is granted by God to a sinner, there will be a true and abiding sorrow over their past sins and ongoing struggle with present sin. But the repentant person will be looking to the new future before them with a God-given resolve to walk in God's ways and to change their thinking about everything in life from that moment forward.

Where there is true God-given repentance, there will be actions in the direction of righteousness and a desire for true righteousness. This is what James chapter 2 is speaking of when it says,. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but has no works?

Can that faith save him? When a person says, I have faith in Christ, and I am a Christian, we cannot see their act of belief itself. We can't see the mental act of assent to the truth of the gospel. The only thing that we can see is the way that they live their life.

Why do people get so upset about.

Hypocrisy?

Because a hypocrite is merely a pretender. In fact, that's what the Greek term hypocrites means, a pretender or an actor. Repentance means changed thinking and changed actions. And where there is true repentance, there will be action.

Why does the Confession of Faith call it repentance unto life? Repentance unto life. Why doesn't the chapter heading just say of repentance? Instead, it's called repentance unto life. Well, that actually is a direct quotation from Scripture.

In Acts 11, 18, after Peter reports about how Cornelius received the Holy Spirit and these Gentile people have repented and come to Christ, the text says, when they heard this, they were quieted down and glorified God, saying, well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.

Cain and Judas both repented with regret of the simple things they did, but it was not true repentance that leads to life. From beginning to end, true repentance is described clearly as a forsaking of the former way of life and the embracing of a life of obedience and righteousness, because that life of obedience and righteousness becomes the desire of the heart of the repentant person.

You know that someone really has come to Christ when there is that radical change in the way that they live their life, in the things that they desire.

And want.

Isaiah 55, verse 7, marvelous text of Scripture. Let the wicked forsake his way. Let him forsake the way he lives his life, his actions, his priorities, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. We need to forsake our way and our thoughts, the way we think about things and the things we do.

And the text goes on,. And let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. So a forsaking of the way we live and a forsaking of the way we think is part and parcel of becoming a Christian.

After his resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples what the heart of their message would be when they went out and preached. He said in Luke 24,. Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.

Only when the sinner sees himself nailed to the cross with Christ, because of the sin that he is drowning in, will they begin to see and to desire in their hearts to live a new life. Only when I see that the way I live and the way I think make me worthy of death, make me worthy of being cursed of God, will we then finally start to see and therefore I want to be done with these things.

I want to turn away from them all. It's a wonderful thing for true Christians to look back at the life from which they were delivered and to look with joy to the future. Come what may, I'm going to live God's way now.

If you remember your life when you were not a Christian, I'm sure that at times you look back and think it's such a wonderful thing for me to know. From now on, I'm not living that way any longer. From now on, I'm gonna do it God's way.

I'm gonna live righteously now. I'm going to do what is righteous now. Nothing is more important than the glory of Christ in my life now as a Christian and may Jesus Christ be glorified in our lives and our priorities by the way we treat people, especially the individuals that God has put in our life that he's called us to love the most.

So why the expression repentance unto life? Why did the people say, well, God has granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles. Why does it say that? Because everyone who repents like that after godly sorrow and has that indignation, that anger against their sin, a zeal to be rid of sin, and a hunger and thirst for righteousness in order to please God, they will obtain eternal life.

That's why it's called repentance unto life. They obtain eternal life not on account of their repentance, not on the basis of their repentance, but by faith alone in Christ alone through their justification.

But true repentance always accompanies this justification and is one of justification's surest marks. Remember what Paul told the Thessalonian church? I can bear witness that the Word of God came to you all and you received it, not as the Word of man, but the Word of God, and you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

How did Paul know that the gospel really had gained a foothold in Thessalonica? They abandoned their former way of life. They threw away their idols. They turned away from sexually immoral behavior and they picked up their cross to follow Jesus.

True repentance always accompanies that justification and it's one of justification's surest marks. There is a worldly sorrow that leads to death. We just read that in 2nd Corinthians 7. But repentance unto life or repentance that leads to life always will represent a noticeable turning point in the life of the believer unless they were converted at a very young age.

Many people don't remember their life before Christ because God showed them mercy when they were very young and that's glorious when you hear those.

Testimonies.

There will be the positive existence in the life of every Christian no matter when they were converted. There will be the positive existence of revulsion in their hearts over the sin that they were once dominated or controlled by or still struggle with now.

They will be revolted by it. They will hate it. They will certainly not want to live in that sin or be identified by that sin. There will be a true and lasting disgust with the former way of life. There will be the presence of real sadness, real anger, real zeal and passion to be rid of the former sins that were once dragging us to hell.

We will hate them. No truly repentant Christian would ever accept a certain form of sin as an identity. I just want to say that for the record. No Christian person would ever accept a certain form of sin that is an abomination to the Holy God as a form of identity.

No Christian would ever do such a thing. Our identity is in Jesus Christ, not in our sins. Aren't you thankful for that? I am not identified by the sins that I once was drowning in. Those are gone. God has taken me away from those.

He's liberated me from enslavement to them. Our sins are what we have left behind. They're what we have turned away from. They're what we repented from. To repent of our sins means to turn away from them.

We used to have that one master, our sin, and we turn away from sin to embrace a new master, Jesus Christ. And remember what he taught in Matthew 6, 24. You can't serve two masters. There will always be love for one and hatred for the others.

And when you repent, the love and hate reverse. Now you love and serve the Lord and you hate the sin. You hate the former master. In Paul's indictment against humanity in Romans 1, he uses a very interesting Greek word.

It only occurs one time in the whole Bible. The term that's translated God-haters, theos stugas, refers to a person who despises and hates God. Why did the unregenerate hate God? Because God is who stands in the way of their first love, sin.

But when the heart of stone is made alive by God, that hatred for God dissolves into love. And a new hatred takes its place, a hatred of sin. A Christian taking pride in their sin is not only blasphemous, it is impossible.

It cannot happen. This is very important because there is an organization today that is embracing the idea of gay identity while trying to be obedient to the biblical teaching on sexuality and marriage, at least they say they are.

It's really a halfway house of sorts. The organization is called Revoice, and they held a conference at a PCA church in St. Louis not too long ago, it was back in late August. Their stated purpose on their website is the following, quote, supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex attracted, and other gender and sexual minority Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.

The irony of this mission statement is that it has already discarded the historic Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality. You will search in vain in the entire history of the annals of Christianity, of the whole history of Christian thought, this is completely novel and unprecedented.

No one has ever suggested such a thing in the entire history of the church. Now, how are they already redefining the Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality? Well, by asserting that there are gay, lesbian, same-sex attracted, and other gender and sexual minority Christians.

It's critical for all of us to recognize that using this kind of label for people is, as Rosaria Butterfield has said, defeatist, cruel, and dishonest. Now, she's a person who is uniquely qualified to address this issue.

If you've not read or listened to anything by Rosaria Butterfield, she is wonderful to listen to. She is a reformed Calvinistic Christian who was a former lesbian professor of women's studies at Syracuse University, and she is now a Christian pastor's wife and a homeschooling mother.

Her testimony, if you can listen to her story without breaking down and weeping for joy, then you don't have a heart. Revoice, this organization, is undercutting something that is at the heart of true repentance in scripture.

Paul rejoiced in the Corinthian believers having left behind their former sins. When Paul wrote that letter to the church of Corinth, he had preached there, he knew these people who had been enslaved in all these different kinds of sins, and they had come out of those sins to embrace Christ.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 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 adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Such were some of you. Not such are some of you, but such were some of you. In fact, there's a website called suchweresomeofyou .com that has testimony after testimony after testimony of people who have come out of these kinds of sins, these kinds of sexual sins, to freedom in Jesus Christ.

Paul says, such were some of you. You used to be these things, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Think about the sins here which exclude people from the kingdom of God.

Fornicators is the first thing he lists there. Can you imagine how Paul would react to someone who wrote books and spoke at conferences identifying themselves as a fornicating Christian? Or if someone identified themselves as a homosexual Christian, or a covetous Christian, or a drunkard Christian?

The founder of Revoice is a man named Dr. Nate Collins. He has a PhD from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His bio, which is on the website called the Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender says, quote, listen to his bio, quote, speaking from his own unique experience as a married same-sex attracted gay man who is a husband, father, and follower of Christ.

He is a vocal proponent of extending and receiving community with LGBT individuals, both inside and outside the church. He has been married to his wife Sarah for 13 years, and they have three young sons, end quote.

Anything about that strike you as a little off? What these folks are promoting today is what's being called gay celibate Christianity. There are a number of terms that you need to be aware of in this whole discussion that's happening today on these issues.

And believe me, as much as I do not like preaching on this type of thing, I preached three sermons a few years ago. When people ask me questions like this, I'll send them links to those. Already covered it, already dealt with it.

But here it comes again. Here's another thing we've got to deal with. I want to equip you to deal with it. The first term is called Side A. Side A Christians. People will talk about the Side A position.

That's the position that God blesses homosexual relationships and homosexual marriage. So you need to know that. That's what Side A means. Side B is what's being promoted by Revoice. It's the embracing of gay identity, but affirming the biblical sexual ethic and that homosexual practice is wrong.

Now, guess what our side is called? Side X. Because we exclude everything. No, we just hold to what Christians have always held to and to what God's word has taught us for several thousand years now. In an excellent talk that Rosaria Butterfield did, and I transcribed this little section here because it was just so outstanding on this topic.

It's a talk on YouTube called Why Gay Celibate Christianity is Not Reformed and Biblical. Understanding the vocabulary and theology behind the new gay Christian movement. Y 'all need to watch that. You need to watch it a She said this, quote, sexual orientation and gender identity as categories of selfhood are inherently secular.

You hear that? The idea that sexual orientation and gender identity as categories of selfhood are inherently secular. Okay, there's nothing Christian, nothing biblical about any of this. She says, you can no more add the gospel and stir this onto it than you could walk on the moon.

If we maintain that bearing the image of God is what distinguishes humans from animals, we see that sexual orientation and gender identity create fictional identities that rob people of their true identity, male and female image bearers of a holy God.

If someone ever comes to me and tells me, yes, I'm a gay Christian. If it's a man comes and tells me I'm a gay Christian, I'll say, no, you are not. You are a man. No, no, I'm a gay man. No, you're not.

You are a male. God made you a man, and you are created in his image as a man. You may have a struggle with this kind of thing, but it is not your identity. It is not your identity. Rosaria Butterfield continues, even, and I would say here now, especially if you are someone who experiences unchosen homosexual desires or gender dysphoria.

Now, that phrase gender dysphoria is important. What is someone who experiences gender dysphoria? It's a person who's not sure if they're the correct gender. Okay, it's uncomfortable to talk about this, but I'm sorry, it's coming.

You're going to have to be prepared for this. Unchosen homosexual desires or gender dysphoria, sexual orientation, gender identity as categories of personhood are dishonest, cruel, and defeating. Unchosen homosexual desires and gender dysphoria come from the fall of man, from Satan's intrusions, from the pit of hell.

Okay, now, remember, this is a former lesbian. This is someone who was in that lifestyle, who has come out of it, and has been renewed by Christ, and she describes this gay celibate Christian idea as from the pit of hell.

She continues, homosexual desires and gender dysphoria are outworkings of original sin, and then listen to this next sentence. This is so glorious. In Christ, fallen desires are not who you are. In Christ, fallen desires are not who you are, even though they may well represent how you feel and perceive the world.

For those who have or have had homosexual desires or gender dysphoria and are Christians, we know that Christ's forgiveness renders us citizens of a new and different country. Listen to this sentence.

This needs to be made into a meme or a bumper sticker. Listen to this. The gospel comes in exchange for the life you once loved, never in addition to it. Isn't that great? The gospel comes in exchange for the life you once loved.

It's not bubble gummed or tacked on to it. It is a radical departure from your former way of life. That's what repentance means. She continues, we know that experiencing unchosen homosexual desire or any desire that God says no to is one of the ways that original sin has thumbprinted us.

We know that when we have acted on any sexual sin, it quickly escalates into an intractable indwelling sin. And we know what God says to do with sexual sin and any sin, flee from it, even if it has been with us from the earliest days of our lives, end quote.

She is right on. So if someone has struggles with whatever the sin might be, whether it's this kind of sin or any kind of sin, what is our counsel to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ? You stand and fight.

You stand your ground and fight. Fight the good fight against these things. Don't give into it. Fight. The biblical doctrine of repentance unto life means grieving over, hating, and forsaking your former life.

That phrase, the gospel comes in exchange for the life you once loved, never in addition to it, is spot on and exactly correct. That's why Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

We lay aside our former life to a new life. No true Christian would ever be comfortable identifying themselves with a form of sexual sin. Their new heart and their zeal for personal holiness would rule this out.

When a person is effectually called by God, granted repentance unto life, and given saving faith in Christ, they will pronounce an anathema, a curse on their former self, that self that died, the old man that was crucified with Jesus.

They say goodbye to their former master to be yoked to the new master Jesus. And this does not mean, of course, that all of our sinful tendencies and problems suddenly disappear. How many of you noticed that all your sins followed you into the Christian life and now you have to deal with them and fight with them?

But they will fight. True believers will fight the good fight. First Peter 2 .11. Listen to the way that this is worded. First Peter 2 .11. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

You hear that word? War. Fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Are you at war? I've been at war since I was 18 years old. It's exhausting. I'm all bloodied and bruised up from it too. But you know what?

You fight. You keep fighting. You don't give in. You certainly don't embrace sinful identities as if that's who you are. No, no, no. I'm identified by Christ now. I'm in Him. He's my master, my leader.

A Christian is never, ever simply to embrace a form of sin as their identity. Such is as contrary to scripture as it could possibly be. We may have fleshly lusts that war against our soul, but that is a war we wage and fight with God's weapons, scripture, sacrament, and prayer.

The founder of Revoice, Nate Collins, has written a book I've been reading called All But Invisible, exploring identity questions at the intersection of faith, gender, and sexuality. Everything I've read in this book so far assumes the possibility of real homosexual identity.

And just to warn you, there is a very serious issue with a victim complex here. The millennial generation, I think I would kind of include my own generation in this, the millennials are victims of everything.

They are not responsible for anything that they do. They're not responsible for any of their decisions or their sins. Everything is someone else's fault. We're all persecuted. We're all victims of society instead of realizing, no, I am responsible for everything I think, feel, and do in my life.

Listen to Nate Collins. He says this, quote, this is a book about an invisible people, people who find themselves at the center of a cultural debate about what it means to be human, to be a person, and to be a sexual being.

You can't escape the debate. It's everywhere. Unfortunately, he's right about that. It unfolds in public places like workplaces and restaurants, but also in the private spaces of our lives at family gatherings and in our living rooms.

Some in this group choose to remain invisible, fearing rejection and judgment. See, what's he assuming here? This is just what people are. That God made them this way, and he's going to hammer this point throughout the rest of the book.

God makes people like this. They can't help it, and if they come out, they fear rejection and judgment. They keep their orientation private and bear their burden alone. Folks, you got to get rid of the idea of orientation.

That is not part of what it means to be a man or a woman. We are designed, if you're a man, you are designed by God for romantic and sexual intimacy with one woman that you're married to for life, and if you're a woman, vice versa, and that's all there is to it.

Our corrupted desires are not our identities. That is not who we are. Collins continues, others are invisible because they don't want to rock their social boat or be an inconvenience to others. They soldier through the awkward comments and the myriad other difficulties that gay people face in struggling to fit in to a straight world, but even if more, but even more specifically, this is a book about our people.

When I say our, I speak as a Christian believer. Christians who are straight but who also observe a traditional sexual ethic are some of the least acknowledged and least understood people today. They don't fit into the mainstream gay culture, but neither do they feel entirely at home in your typical evangelical church.

According to most studies and the smart people who interpret them, gender and sexual minorities account for about three to five percent of the general population, but there is no reason to believe that the statistics are any different inside our churches.

Folks, you need understand something. The church does not have gender and sexual minorities. You need to rid your mind of that category. That does not exist. There is no such thing as gender and sexual minorities, as if that's just what they are, and it can't be changed.

God can't even change it. The church does not have gender and sexual minorities. You just need to be aware of that. That is assumed. That kind of speech is all throughout all this literature, and it's to wear you down, to get you to embrace this idea that this is just what these people are.

They can't help it. He continues, gay people are the greeter who hands us a bulletin with a smile when we enter the sanctuary. They are the usher who passes the offering plate. They are the single man who sits alone in the same pew Sunday after Sunday, and they are the teenage girl who has the twinkle in her father's eye and has a scary secret.

Gay people are us, end quote. That's hard to read, isn't it? What is being assumed here throughout? That there are gay people. It's just what they are. This is assumed throughout the book and throughout all the talks at that ReVoice conference.

The phrases LGBT community, gay people, the gay community are used constantly for some reason. For some reason. This particular sin is being singled out and spoken of as if it simply functions as a person's unchangeable identity, even if they're Christians.

But remember what Paul rejoiced in to the Corinthian church. Such were some of you. Not such are some of you. Such were some of you. You used to be these things. But if this particular type of sin can have communities of people, why can't any other sin have communities of people too?

Could we have conferences that were about supporting, encouraging, and empowering discontent, drunkard, lustful, and other covetous, adulterous, thieving, reviling Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic Christian doctrine of righteousness?

Why not? Could a person come out as covetous? I suppose so if a person really struggles with being covetous. They might stand before a small group Bible study and confess, I've never been content the way I ought to be.

The temptation to covet is at times overwhelming to me. Instead of fighting it, I'm simply going to embrace it as my identity. I've prayed and prayed for it to go away, and it never has. I'll observe the historic Christian ethic of contentment, but at the end of the day, I'm a covetous Christian.

How many of you would think that that's a little weird? You would be right. You would be right. Anyone who heard something like this would likely be left scratching their head. How can this person accept covetousness, something that is an abomination to God, as their identity?

As a person while still being a Christian who has supposedly been granted repentance unto life? And herein lies the problem, folks. As Christians, we may have many very difficult, and at times very draining, ongoing battles with various sins.

Sometimes it can be the same sin for years and years and years, but those sins and desires do not identify who we are. They are not our identity. If Revoice took the following approach, in fact, I came up with a new mission statement.