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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
The Social Contagion of Shamelessness
Good morning. Hello, hello. Well, today is the big baptism day, the picnic.
Are you guys all sticking around afterwards? Yeah. All right, you know what? I actually have to open with a little bit of bad news.
We did not get the Korean barbecue sticks. It was, oh,
I know, I know. It was going to cost us like thousands of dollars. They were going to charge like $6 per chicken stick.
And I said, no, we're not paying that. So we're going to have to find another way to do that at another picnic.
So it's still on the radar. We just haven't figured out how to do it a little more cheaply than that. But we do have
Dad's Deli. So right after church, we'll have sandwiches. You can get your sandwich and then make your way outside.
The rain's just going to cool it off a little, but then it'll be nice and clear for the baptism service. God's got that dialed up for us.
So it'll be great. So we have a wonderful baptism time plan. I think there's seven people getting baptized.
It's going to be glorious. So let's pray for them. Secondly, we have a congregational meeting two weeks from today after second service on June 23.
And that's just an ordinary meeting dealing with regular congregational business. But everybody is invited to come.
And it's just a great time of fellowship as well. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh, Lord, thank you so much for another
Sunday that you've woken us up. You've given us life and breath and the joy of the Lord that we could come into this place and worship you.
You are so worthy of our praise. And Lord, we want to say that we thank you for all your good gifts to us, especially salvation that you have given your own son to die for our sins and to rise from the dead.
Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that we are purchased with the price of his blood. Thank you for all the good gifts in our lives, like our families, those that we love and who love us.
God, thank you for our homes, transportation, and this church, Lord. Thank you for the brotherhood and sisterhood here,
Lord, that we love one another and that this is a church that cares for each other. Thank you for the love you've given us.
Lord, we do pray for the baptism service later. And now, as we begin to sing praises to your name and listen to your word, we pray that you would put our hearts in the right place, that you would stir us up to love and good deeds, that you would help us to worship you now.
In Jesus' name, amen. Matthew 5 .14 says, you are the light of the world.
And a city on a hill cannot be hidden. So as we stand, we're going to give praise to the
Lord. Let your light shine this morning in your praise and in your adoration of him. ["King of Glory"] The king above all kings.
This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love.
That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross.
You are the hand of the light. That I could be set free.
Jesus, thank you for all that you've done for me. Who brings out chaos, that need to order it?
Who makes it your thing? A son, a daughter. The king of glory.
The king of glory. Who rules the nations with truth and justice.
Shines like the sun in all of his brilliance. The king of glory.
The king above all kings. This is amazing grace.
This is unfailing love. That you would take my place.
That you would bear my cross. You are the hand of the light.
That I could be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the
King who conquered the grave. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave. Worthy is the
Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the King who conquered the grave.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy, worthy, worthy.
Oh, you lay down your life. That I would be set free.
Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.
Amen. Thank you, Lord. And he is worthy of all of our praise.
Amen. Preachers of heaven.
Starry heights. Lights of evening.
Dancing in silent skies. Remnants of morning.
Breaking day. Oh, let them praise him.
Praise his name. Oh, praise his name.
Oh, praise his name. Let all his wondrous works declare his praise.
Mighty as mountains. Peaceful plains.
Snowfall and fire. Thundering ocean waves.
Kings and their kingdoms. Age to age.
Oh, let them praise him. Praise his name.
Oh, praise his name. Oh, praise his name.
Let all his wondrous works declare his praise.
King and throne and majesty. All things made by his decree.
Dear creation's melody. Praise him.
Praise him. Everything with life and breath.
Everywhere from east to west. Every heart raised from the dead.
Praise him. Praise him. Angels echo the reprieve.
Jesus let poor sinners flee. Name above all other names.
Praise him. Oh, praise his name.
A thousand generations fallen down in worship to sing the song of ages to the
Lamb. And all who've gone before us and all who will believe will sing the song of ages to the
Lamb. Your name is the highest.
Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all.
All thrones and dominions all powers and positions.
Your name stands above them all.
And the angels cry, Holy, our creation
Christ. Holy, you were lifted high.
Holy, holy forever.
You have been forgiven and you have been redeemed.
Sing the song forever to the Lamb. If you walk in freedom and if you bear his name, sing the song forever to the
Lamb. We'll sing the song forever and amen.
Hear your people sing, Holy to the
King of kings. Holy, you will always be.
Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest.
Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions.
Your name stands above them all. Jesus, your name is the highest.
All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions.
Your name stands above them all. And the angels cry,
Holy, our creation Christ.
Holy, you were lifted high.
You will always be. Holy, holy forever.
It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life, the spring of water of life without payment.
And Lord God, I don't know what people have been through this week.
I know a lot of people have had very difficult weeks. And God, as we have sung your praises and we have come before you and entered into your throne room with our praise,
Lord God, we just take a step back. And Lord, just allow you to speak to us.
And Lord, I just pray that those that you are speaking to, Lord God, that they would respond to you just in the quiet of their heart,
Lord God. The things that are burdening them, weighing them down, Lord God. Just take this time, just a moment, before we sing of the throne room of God and the eternity they will spend with you.
Lord God, I just pray that you would help us through these earthly moments,
Lord God, that we are going through the pain and whatever it might be.
Just speak to us, Lord, and give us a freedom to respond back to you. Before the throne of God above,
I am a strong and perfect being. I'll bring my praise to whose name it's called, whoever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hand. My name is written on his heart.
I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me then depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward
I look and see him there who made an end to all my sin.
Because my sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me, to look on him and pardon me.
To hold him there, the risen Lamb, under a face of His righteousness, the great unchangeable
Lamb, the King of glory and of grace.
All in Himself I cannot die. My soul is purchased by His blood.
My life is filled with Christ on high, with Christ my
Savior and my God, with Christ my
Savior and my God. Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.
The grave I preach to whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me.
Amen, let's all be seated. As you're seated, check your phone, make sure it's on mute or turned off.
So good to see everybody. It's a special day today. Today we celebrate baptism, and we have seven believers who are going to go down under the water and come out again to proclaim that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, but rose on the third day.
It's an awesome thing. Let's pray for the preaching of the word and the hearing of the word that God would use
His word to bring new life to many. Father God, as we open to Romans chapter one today, it is a heavy passage and a somber reality as we talk about sin and even sexual sin.
Lord, it was tempting for me not to preach this but to go and preach something else, and yet it is needed that we talk about sin because knowing ourselves to be sinners we can turn our eyes to the
Savior. And so Lord, we pray that there would be a roundabout way that this message this morning, although about sin, would actually turn hearts to the
Savior as you open eyes to see the depravity of sin in each of us as we're born into it that moreover,
Lord, you would turn our eyes to Jesus that we would see the one who conquered sin on the cross who was buried and who rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death and Lord, that you would use this preached word to deliver some from damnation into eternal life.
Pray that somebody would be saved this morning either through this preaching or through the baptism testimonies but Lord, please save those who are lost in sin.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It is not uncommon for Facebook or some other app,
YouTube to ban what you are about to hear today regarding it as hate speech.
Hate speech. But it is the speech of the living God. We are going to do nothing other than proclaim what the
Bible says. So if the Bible is true, which it is, it should be allowed to speak without censure.
Now, it's interesting that the biblical worldview is regarded as hate speech because I think the exact opposite is true.
When the hate speech police say that we are being hateful it is actually them who take away the only hope for those who have sin.
All of us are born into sin but the world is telling people that they are born a certain way and if they have tendencies or even begin to practice homosexuality that they cannot change that there is no hope for them.
Some people desire to change but do not find the strength to do so.
And over time begin to celebrate the thing that they once were ashamed of.
I think it's hateful to tell people that there is no hope. But the gospel of Jesus Christ actually assigns the reason for sexual sin.
When marriages were failing in the time of Jesus just as many marriages fail today some of the
Pharisees came and asked Jesus if it was permissible for them to get a divorce. And Jesus pointed out that the problem is actually not your spouse the problem is more fundamental than that.
The problem is hardness of heart. There was a heart issue in Matthew 10 6 but from the beginning
God made them male and female therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
So Jesus actually points back to God's perfect plan as the starting point.
He doesn't begin with people born in sin with certain proclivities rather he doesn't say you were born this way he said
God never designed it to be that way. Moreover there was a time when the disciples were despairing because Jesus had told the rich young ruler that he must do what seemed impossible to him to leave everything in this world and follow
Christ. And the rich young ruler went away sad because he had much wealth and later the disciples came to him and they were very sad and they said who then can be saved?
Salvation means deliverance it's a complete change it's to be delivered from sin and the disciples were saying who then can be saved if the righteous
Pharisees and the rich young ruler couldn't be who can be?
Hear the word of the Lord with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible
God is able to deliver to save sinners like us from any sin sin is great and it is powerful but our
God is greater still our God is able to deliver anyone from anything so long as they're still living in the land of the living
I know some people who have been delivered from a homosexual lifestyle I had a mentor when
I was a young youth pastor in St. Petersburg, Florida he and his wife had been missionaries to Erie and Jaya, Papua New Guinea and they had reached a tribal people with the gospel of Jesus Christ but when they returned from the mission field their teenage son had a great struggle adjusting to American culture because he had been raised in Papua New Guinea and in that struggle he didn't seem to fit in, he thought he was different and before long he fell into sexual temptation and then into homosexual behavior he became so entangled in this that he was actually a male prostitute going into his early twenties just being raised in a
Christian home even by missionary parents did not deliver him but when he met the
Lord Jesus Christ he was utterly and completely saved from that homosexual spirit when
I got to know him in the early 2000s he was a masculine man he had none of the effeminate characteristics that used to be a part of his life, he was completely set free he had a wife and children and he was ministering to others in the power of the very gospel that saved him it only takes one testimony like that to disprove the very world view of those who say that God cannot change people the world view of the left is that you cannot be changed from or delivered from homosexuality if you want to read a book about this that is further evidence there is a woman named
Rosaria Butterfield she was a professor at Syracuse University and she was in the gender studies program and a loud and vocal advocate for the
LGBTQIA plus movement very active in this movement until she met the
Lord Jesus Christ and was gloriously set free and the Lord has been using her to speak against this side
B Christianity which says that God might be able to keep you celibate but he'll never change your desires she testifies that she was not only set free of the practice of lesbianism, she was changed from the inside out by the power of the gospel
God is able to do anything because with God all things are possible this is our gospel but I think that the longer the
LGBTQ movement pushes their world view the more they undermine their own narrative because I remember in the 1990s in high school there were a couple of lesbians in our school it was very unusual but I remember teachers at that time telling students
I was in a public school that this is normal and natural it's genetic and 2 % of the population will always be
LGBTQ across culture 2 % of the population but now that our society has lost a sense of shame surrounding this the percentages have grown in some age demographics and among some people group to 20 times that number with Barna conducting research that showed 18 to 24 year olds identifying at a rate of 40 % and so the idea that it's genetic and innate is completely undermined by the success of their own marketing you see what we're dealing with is a social contagion social conditioning which is attempting to legitimize what used to cause shame and to be regarded as sin, the degree to which they're successful in their marketing proves that their world view is false, it's also geographically different,
Washington DC has a population of homosexuals that's more than double the average state in the union because of the liberal world view of those in Washington DC and how they identify in their morality likewise the celebrity culture like Hollywood has trumpeted the
LGBTQI movement and so you see such a large percentage of their own children becoming part of the movement what's actually happening is not a genetic thing but rather where shame surrounding sexual sin is thrown off sexual sin obviously will abound shamelessness then is the issue of course you won't miss in our culture the pride movement it's everywhere, you can't watch an
NBA basketball game without seeing a commercial that promotes the pride month even my beloved eagles turned their logo into a rainbow this week at which time
I unfollowed them on Twitter it's sad it's everywhere, it's an indoctrination a social contagion,
I would like us to listen to what God has to say about these matters turn with me to Romans chapter 1 18 to 32 and this is not a condemning message in fact the reason that Paul begins his argument here in verse 18 after last week he gave the thesis of the book the gospel is the power of God unto salvation the reason that Paul begins here is actually because he's setting the stage for the good news he has to tell the bad news about the wrath of God in order to make people ready to hear the good news so where as Paul might come across as being narrow minded and harsh and intolerant this is actually the most loving thing he could ever say he tells about a reality here the wrath of God which the world denies but he's only setting the stage to tell about the mercy of God to all of those who call on the name of Jesus Christ so from 118 to 321 he lays the foundation about the sinfulness of humanity let's begin reading from 118 to 23 and then we'll finish out the chapter today the first thing that I would like us to see is that there is an exchanging of glory follow that term exchanging of glory in the suppression of truth
God has made his beauty his holiness his glory to be seen by all people who have faculties of reason and that glory is meant to cause people to give thanks and to worship him but people exchange the glory of God for a lie suppressing his glory in order to worship the things that he has made this exchange of worshipping
God to worshipping what God has made is called idolatry and it is the essence of sin it is the reason for the things that follow because here's what we will see when people suppress truth and exchange the glory of God there comes a point where God gives them up to what they are taking in place of him exchanging the glory of God for idols
God gives them up to those idols to love those idols in their hearts and to justify that idolatry in their minds so before we read
I just want to show you this give them up expression it's in verses 24 26 and 28 three places in 24 therefore
God gave them up this is the main idea of the passage here in verse 26 we will address the issue of homosexuality because God has something to say about it he says that it is to be given up to unnatural passions and then in 28 halfway through the verse
God gave them up to a debased mind so it begins with the heart passionate desires to be given over to those things and then the unnatural affections and finally the very debasing of the mind where shame is lost and so shamelessness pervades a culture another word for shamelessness is pride here we see the anatomy of shamelessness in verses 18 to 23 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness so there's this is an attack on religion on God centeredness and unrighteousness of men unrighteousness is against God's moral standard what's right who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse for although they knew
God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things so here we have the anatomy of shamelessness in other words the internal workings when you break down the shamelessness of the culture and you say what's happening under the surface what are the internal workings of this pride it is fundamentally an exchanging of glory there is a glory that all people behold during first service
I was telling about this and I said there's a glory in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and in the human body in the eyesight that we have been given and the incredible functioning of our hands and in the animals like the deer of the forest and just when
I said like the deer four deer came out of the woods and the people are looking out the window are they there now
Bob they're always summoned by this the deer the created things the animals and you've all seen
National Geographic the crazy fish that are under the surface of the ocean you've seen the glory of the created things now the nature of this exchange of glory is to no longer give thanks to the
God who made you to thank God for the blessings of your family the people that you see and to begin to deny that there is a
God and how do you do that by suppressing truth the eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived in the things that he has made all people are able to see a sunset and know that there's a
God you're to see the rain fall and refresh the earth and know that this process is not just random and a great happenstance but it is the handiwork of God but what people do is they suppress that knowledge of God's eternal power divine nature his power and his goodness kind of like holding a beach ball underwater you ever been to the beach with your friends and you're hitting a beach ball around and somebody somebody puts the ball underwater it can't stay there on its own this word in the text suppress in verse 18 refers to hold as underwater suppressing something that's there in your mind as an image bearer of the living
God you have knowledge that there is a God all people do whether in Irian Jaya Papua New Guinea a tribal people or in the
United States of America you can see the sun you can feel the warmth of the sun and you can know you can reason that there is a
God that made this and what people do is rather than giving thanks to God they suppress that knowledge in their mind they hold it down they hold the truth down in order to exchange the glory of God for the things he made so notice in verse 20 it's in the things that have been made the created things that we see the glory of God in verse 23 the exchange is for these things mortal man being first on the list the created human body the glory of a body made in the image of almighty
God after his likeness with an intellect and a will and emotions and the ability to relate to God this glory which points to God as his image it's reflecting him people exchange that glory for what the body itself so the mortal body the human body becomes the first of the idols that people make notice this is referring to Roman paganism they would often make idols resembling human body parts or humans and likewise they would make idols of birds and animals and creeping things the things that God has made are meant to point to God but instead people exchange that for the thing itself make sense this is idolatry the essence of idolatry now for this reason all people whether a tribal person in Irian Jaya or a sophisticated westerner is anapologetus excuse without an apologetic without an excuse look at the end of verse 20 so they are without excuse an apologetic some of you have studied apologetics it means to make in a defense of the faith in the same way you could make a defense of your own behavior your own actions or thoughts but the problem is worshiping idols and not giving thanks to God you have no excuse why not because everybody knows they say well
I'm an atheist I don't know there's a God no an atheist is suppressing what they know holding down that knowledge and they also are without excuse this is an interesting point regarding children infants or even the preborn who die before seeing the light of day
John MacArthur makes the point that these are not described in this passage as being without excuse for they have not seen the creation and rejected the glory and splendor of God in favor of what he has made
I think he's right although I can't be as dogmatic as MacArthur I don't know if anybody can be as dogmatic as MacArthur but on this particular point
I'm not sure that no children no infants could ever be condemned
I think that's the case but here's the issue that we are born in sin and this is the reason that babies die in the womb this is the reason that infants sometimes die think about it death is in the world because of sin and sin is inherited from the father what this passage seems to be saying though is that the wrath of God verse 18 is revealed for those who suppress that knowledge and the condemnation of hell seems to be for those who have made idols rather than worshiping the
God that they're rejecting if every baby is saved which
I think they are it is not because they're inherently good but because God in his grace is applying the blood of Jesus to their sin we know he did it at least once John the
Baptist was a sinner born of sinful inheritance of flesh like anyone else but we are told in Luke 1 15 that even in his mother's womb he was filled with the
Holy Spirit now that doesn't prove that God does that for every baby but if he did it for one he can certainly do it for another he's able to regenerate in the womb
David said that he was made to trust in God when he was breastfeeding and in 2
Samuel 12 23 David is distraught listen this is important David was distraught because his infant was dying but once the baby died he got up and he washed his face and he ate and he became joyful again to the point where his friends were very concerned about him they thought he might be about to commit suicide but David said no
I will go to where he is my son cannot come back to me but I will go to where he is so God gave
David a certain knowledge that the baby who died is in heaven I say all this because this passage here in Romans 1 is one of the strongest arguments along with the ones
I've mentioned that the basis of eternal condemnation that God has wrath to the degree of sending people to hell is the rejection of the general revelation of his glory exchanging that for idols now every sinner is prone to do that so as you grow in the flesh that sinful desire every person will exchange glory unless they learn the gospel and begin to believe in Jesus Christ now the second part of the sermon if the exchanging of glory is the essence of sin what is this wrath well it is nothing more than being given over to what people chose so let's look at these three he gave them up the most horrifying thing is that God would give you what you want yes there are sexual desires in a man and in a woman but God is
God and he gets to set the boundaries of how we are to live our lives the one who desires to go out of bounds from what
God has defined as the boundary may very well be given what they want and that is the first giving over notice it's sexual in nature verses 24 and 25 therefore and this is terrifying this kind of wrath
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts their hearts wanted the idol which in this case is the human body the mortal mortal flesh the first idol of verse 23 he gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves and remember why?
we've already talked about it because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen sexual sin and societal preoccupation with sex is a sign of a people being given over have you noticed that we live in a culture that is sex crazed absolutely obsessed with sexuality it's a sign of being given over now
I've agreed with John MacArthur so I get to disagree with him also right he's not infallible he's one of our favorite preachers around here but we recognize that all people can err about 8 years ago
John MacArthur was preaching on this passage and he said that this is a sign that God has given
America over the sexual debauchery is a sign that we as a people as a nation have been given over I disagree with that look at verse 18 it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men anthropome the idea here is not the word culture or society but any man any person man woman who has exchanged glory will be given over to those desires in idolatry the idea here could have been communicated in terms of a society or a nation there are
Greek words for nation but it uses the word men and I bring this up because I believe that our
Christian culture has become needlessly hopeless in the face of a culture that is drifting away from God and we assume that all hope is lost but remember
Sodom and Gomorrah a particular city that was given over to wrath fire rained down from heaven and destroyed the entire city because it was given over to wrath even before that Abraham was pleading with the
Lord and the Lord said yes to Abraham had there been 50 righteous people in that entire region
God would have spared the city had there been 40 believers
God would have said yes 30 20 and 10 but there were not yet even 10 believers in Sodom and Gomorrah and so God did give the city over to wrath
Sodom would have been preserved for the 10 but the Christian movement in this country is much stronger than that and in this room we testify that the power of the gospel to change hearts is still working remember this phrase from this sermon all things are possible for God and I want you to leave today and tell those who are individually ensnared in sexual sin that the world is a liar and Jesus Christ can set you free and they'll doubt that there's that much power in the gospel to actually change the heart and the desires of the flesh but God with him all things are possible
I also want you to leave here today believing that God can send a revival that changes this culture two things can exist at the same time a movement that's drifting away from God and a movement that's going back to God and it is not certain which of those will conquer the other with God all things are possible he can yet turn
America back for his glory we're not fully given over many individuals many anthropons many men are given over and they can't help themselves we go on to the second giving up in 26 and 27 for this reason
God gave them up to dishonorable passions listen it has been beaten like a drum into our heads that people are born gay conversion therapy so called which is not what we do we preach the gospel but it is outlawed in the state of New Jersey for therapists and psychiatrists and counselors to counsel for change of orientation it is illegal so strong is the world's movement but can we listen to what
God says about how it is that people become gay he does not say you're born this way he says that people stop praising
God stop thanking God and exchange God's glory for a lie and God gives them over to be doubly debased it is degrading to live by your heart to follow your heart to be unrestrained as a sexual being to follow your passions and go for your feelings without listening to God that is degrading it is doubly degrading to be unnatural in that behavior let's read 26 to 27 for this reason
God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature so picture that for a moment how
God has designed humanity in his goodness male and female he created them and in that design there is a complementarity the woman is the help meet the edzer connecto a corresponding different person same in bearing the image of God but different in maleness and femaleness and this is
God's nature and from that natural order the world will be populated and filled
God's design it's beautiful but notice this is now contrary to that nature that's what
Paul is talking about and in verse and some I've heard some people say well the Bible never talks about lesbianism verse 26 just did and now in verse 27 the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another the issue here is honor and shame men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error so as they make themselves effeminate making part of their anatomy like the female counterpart and receiving men rather than being men in this act they will then same verb receive
Strong's talks about like as to a host they will receive in themselves the due penalty for their error that is
God has wrath against this and he will visit with punishment those who do such things it can be in this life with the warning of STDs and things of this nature but ultimately this is referring back to verse 18 the wrath of God this burning anger that will be delivered on the day of judgment lastly verses 28 to 32 a third giving over explains the shamelessness and the justification of the pride movement and since they did not see fit to acknowledge
God, God gave them up to a debased mind so it began as desires in the heart
God gave them to their feelings and their desires because they were unrestrained he then gave them to the unnatural affections now he allows the mind to become debased
God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done and so now the debased mind is able to justify anything and everything
God's law has been jettisoned and so there's no more standard the mind is able to delight even in what ought to cause shame and there's a list of 21 examples they are filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil covetousness, malice they are full of envy murder, strife, deceit maliciousness, they are gossips, slanderers haters of God these next three words refer to pride insolent haughty, boastful inventors of evil, we actually live in a day where inventions of evil are multiplying just through the roof the invention of AI and so many internet technologies are allowing humanity to do things which were never done in human history access to this kind of debauchery that was never seen in 6 ,000 years of world existence inventions of evil disobedient to parents foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless and here's where this whole shame motif comes together, shamelessness has overtaken though they know
God's righteous decree remember the suppression of this knowledge? they know those who practice such things deserve to die this is the wrath of God against those who reject him, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them, and so in closing understand that pride month is a social contagion and notice that it's religious in nature sometimes on Christmas or Easter I'll say we don't just celebrate the birth of Jesus or the resurrection of Jesus this one day we celebrate
Christmas and Easter every day of the year now
I recently heard people talking about pride month saying remember we don't just celebrate pride month one month of the year we should celebrate it every day of the year pride has become a religion delighting in the very thing that ought to be shameful giving approval and demanding of others that same approval,
I want you to notice this because it is a sign of the times 2
Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3 said that the antichrist and his beast system cannot come until the rebellion takes place that word rebellion is the apostasia, the apostasy when western countries were christianized the gospel and the morality of the bible had a restraining effect on the culture so people wouldn't do what was shameful because they were restrained by the morality of the church but in recent decades beginning in 1962 all sodomy laws were in existence until 1962 by 2003 no sodomy laws were allowed in any state with the supreme court decision
Lawrence vs Texas a massive change took place over those 40 years what used to be shamed became celebrated in the last 20 years
Obergefell only happened in 2015 this is something the world has never seen but the world has seen it we've been reading from Romans 1 which describes the paganism of the first century so christianity had its salt light effect on the culture and now all of a sudden there is a reversion back to first century paganism and so it appears that the apostasy has come but at the same time
I want you to understand that as long as you and I are here we haven't yet been raptured up, the church is still in the world as a restraining force in the world the holy spirit is still in you as long as we're still here
God is still restraining evil and though many people are moving in that direction the church is also getting stronger many social contagions have burned themselves out over time the church has conquered antichrist spirits before just read about the reformation
Europe had their reformation maybe it's time for the United States of America to have one when
I see a room with hardly any seats open and young people being baptized on this field in just a few moments
I see power in the gospel, does it not say in Romans 116,
I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God, for salvation for all who believe, so here's the kicker, here's the finisher,
I promise this time when you go from this place go in the power that you have been given as a believer of Jesus Christ don't go with this weak defeated mindset that we're going to lose the bible doesn't say that and we don't know that things won't get better before they come to a crashing halt in the tribulation there can be a season of revival maybe if not the entire country at least in Mount Laurel, New Jersey so preach to your friends because you have the hope that they truly need the world will tell them that they're hopeless they'll never be able to procreate and have a family and enjoy the glories of the blessings of seeing your children raised but you
Christian can go tell them that they can be saved and changed in the power of the gospel preach this with confidence because there still is power in the gospel with God all things are possible go with the hope that you've been given let's pray so father
I want to pray right now for anyone who's been enslaved and entangled in sexual sin they feel the passions of the flesh the desires burning inside of them we pray in Jesus name that they would not exchange the glory of God for those lies we pray that you would deliver them now so that they do not go down this slippery slope where they would be given over to those things and then given over to unnatural affections and then given over to a debased mind losing all shame and losing their souls we pray rather God that your gospel would come with the power of God unto salvation that they would believe that Jesus is the sin conqueror we pray that they would confess their sin right now ask for forgiveness turn and be healed and Lord Jesus we pray that you would heal their minds right now set their minds to be rightly ordered deliver from the evil one we pray
Lord that all those listening to this sermon will repent of sin and believe that Jesus died on a cross and rose on the third day to set the sinners free
Lord we pray for this church that you would send revival we pray for those being baptized that they would testify with clarity and with boldness as they ought we pray that someone would hear and believe the gospel today and we do pray for this country that the pride movement would burn out and that godliness righteousness and the gospel of Jesus Christ would take over in Jesus name we pray amen the city set on the hill cannot be hidden amen you are the light of the world and the gospel will be preached let's stand go out with a joyful song he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he
And the good news is I know that He can do for you what He's done for me
Let me tell you about my Jesus, and let my Jesus change your life
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen, Amen, Amen I would take my cross to Calvary, pay the price for all my guilty
Who would care that much about me? Let me tell you about my
Jesus He makes a way where there ain't no way, rises up from an empty grave
Ain't no sinner that He can't save Let me tell you about my Jesus His love's strong and His grace is free
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen, Amen Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen, Let my
Jesus change your life So I'm going to read this benediction, then
I'm going to pray for the food And if you would, if you're willing to stay, hang around The sandwiches are in the classroom in the front, which will be to your left as you're going out
You go in the first door and out the second door Just grab and go, because the line will be long One sandwich per person, but then once everybody's had a chance, you can go in for the second one
So let's read this benediction We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning
But he who is born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding
So that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true In his
Son, Jesus Christ, he is the true God And eternal life, little children, keep yourselves from idols
Let's pray Father, thank you for your word to us this morning, and thank you for the food We pray that you would bless it to our bodies, bless our time of fellowship
And Lord, please bless this baptism service we're about to have Let the name of Jesus be lifted high, in Jesus' name