Clear Thinking About Homosexuality (part 2) - [Romans 1]

Well, like it or not, we are a persuadable people.

Media affects us.

Advertising affects us.

After all, in honor of Bruce today, two all -beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,

pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Right?

We are influenced.

There's a constant bombardment in the world, not just to buy their products, but to buy their philosophies, their

theologies, and their thinking.

No wonder Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16, be watchful.

Be watchful.

Your mind is being assaulted by the world, in particular, the homosexual agenda.

How do we think rightly about this topic?

First thing you need to say to yourself is, there is an agenda.

There is an agenda, and thereafter, my mind.

And in 1989, in a book called After the Ball, How America Will Conquer

Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s, Kirk and Mazden, the

two authors, wrote this, 1989.

In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection

so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector.

The public should be persuaded that gays are victims of circumstance, that they no more

choose their sexual orientation than they did, say, their height, skin color,

talents, or limitations.

In 1989, they conclude with gays should be portrayed as victims of prejudice.

Did it work?

It absolutely did work.

Problem is, in this agitated age, we are so now reflexed to

respond with, oh yes, they're victims, and maybe we ought to actually

celebrate this sin.

Christians are shamed.

They're put in corners now.

I think of the website that Kevin DeYoung wrote an article on homosexuality, and this was the

pushback response to his article, his biblical article.

People would respond with things like this.

Do you know why so many LGBTs are atheists?

It's because so many religious people are so unwelcoming.

How do you expect to reach others when you call them disordered and unnatural?

Did not Christ say, do not judge lest you be judged?

Maybe try unconditional love instead of condemnation, and leave the judging of sins to God.

This whole discussion needs to be predicated by a more basic conversation about how to interpret the Bible.

All too often, the fundamentalist argument, the Bible says homosexuality is sin, closes off all

further discussion.

But things are not that simple.

The question is, how many people are you, church, willing to lose over the issue?

How important is it for you to be right?

To have a few snippets of scripture to wave over your head when you're pointing finger at people?

The writer says, we're leaving in droves.

I grew up in a good church, but this mentality is part of the reason I can't set foot in one without either crying or getting

really angry, and I'm not even gay.

To me, the number of people who are leaving and never coming back because Christians are confusing righteousness with self -righteousness,

and placing both those above loving one another.

For the record, I love you but hate your sexuality, which is something that is at the core of who

you are.

It is not love.

I'm sick to the gills of hearing that a different interpretation from your own is either a slippery slope

or the devil in disguise, and I'm giving up on it all together.

What do you say to something like that?

What's your response?

Well, what we want to do this week and maybe next time is to think rightly about this

topic, to think biblically about the topic of homosexuality.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, we are to destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of

God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

So I think what we'll do is for an outline today, let me give you some lies that are easy to believe about the topic of homosexuality,

lies that seem like truth, lies that feel like truth.

I don't want you to buy the world's company line.

I want you to think rightly.

And this goes back, remember last week, when you think of Christ loving the church, when you think of the atonement, when you think of

Jesus laying down his life for the church as her substitute, as the

Lamb of God who takes away sin of the world, that picture of Christ loving the church is the picture for marriage.

When you think of atonement, you have to think of marriage, and when you think of marriage, you have to think of atonement.

So instead of leading with groupthink, instead of saying to ourselves, let's trust in our own heart,

our own mind, what does the Bible say about this topic?

Lie number one, I don't want you to believe the lie, then we'll teach you the truth from the Bible.

Lie one, the rainbow is strictly, originally, and primarily

a symbol for homosexuality.

Lie one, the rainbow is strictly, originally, and primarily a symbol for homosexuality.

Now, when I say rainbow, what do you think of?

Well, maybe if you're Charlie Crane, you think of the band.

Not the American band, nor the South Korean band.

Maybe you think of the British TV series.

But what does the Bible say about rainbows?

Let's take our Bibles and open to Genesis chapter nine.

Symbols are powerful.

Swastika, all -seeing eye, peace sign, hammer and sickle, pentagram,

biohazard, four -leaf clover.

They are powerful, they make you remember things.

They take a lot of information and make you think about that information with one simple symbol.

What is the symbol of the rainbow?

And in our day and age, we know who has hijacked that symbol.

And today I want you to remember what that symbol is really standing for, who made up the symbol.

And I want you to say to yourself, second to the cross as a symbol of Jesus dying for my sins,

I love the rainbow number two.

It's my second most favorite thing for symbolism.

Now rainbows have been around for a long time and Norse mythology said that the rainbow

is a bridge that connects the world of men and the realm of gods.

And you can imagine it looks like a bridge to get from one side to the other.

As you know, the Irish leprechaun had a secret hiding place for his pot of gold and it's at the

end of the rainbow.

And of course you can never get there so you can't get the gold either.

In Japan, some ancient beliefs said that bridges are how their human ancestors

took descent to the planet earth.

Navajos, they said this is the path of the small age holy spirits.

In Greek mythology, Isis is the personification of the rainbow.

And again, she used it as a mode of transportation.

Even some reformers, some quasi reformers, Thomas Munzer, he

claimed that this rainbow was connected to socially

revolutionary claims with preaching the gospel.

And if you go to the German town of Stolberg today, you'll see Munzer's statue with a rainbow in his hand, rainbow flag.

The German Peasants' War of the 16th century, rainbow flag and a

peasant's boot.

It is a sign of new era social change.

American Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine said we should use a rainbow flag as the

flag out of the ocean to signify neutral territory.

And sorry, Sam Farah, even the rainbow has been used by Apple computer, now hasn't

it?

These days though, it is directly stemmed from the Rainbow Push organization

formed by, remember, Jesse Jackson.

Operation Push, People United to Save Humanity got along with National Rainbow Coalition

and they said we want civil rights, political activism and social justice.

The National Rainbow Coalition, our Rainbow Coalition for short, stemmed out of Jesse Jackson's 1984

presidential campaign as he would attack Reaganomics.

He called for Arab Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, youth, disabled veterans, small farmers,

lesbians and gays to join with African Americans and Jewish Americans for political

things.

But today when you see a rainbow, who's pushing rainbow theology and symbolism?

And we know the answer.

It was 1978 when the gay community said let's use the rainbow to

symbolize homosexuality as something to be celebrated.

It first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade.

Artist and drag queen Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag.

And he knew flags had powerful symbols that would etch themselves in the

mind of the nation.

He said we needed something beautiful, something for us.

The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages,

all those things.

And he designed the first one with eight stripes.

And he, like Betsy Roth, decided to dye and sew the material of the first flag by himself.

Now technically rainbows are a phenomenon found in our meteorological

discussions with reflections, refractions forming a multicolored arc.

Red is the outer part, violet on the inside.

But what does the Bible say about rainbows?

Well, let's dive right into Genesis chapter nine.

Chapter six through eight, we know there's been the flood.

God has destroyed the world with a worldwide flood has not been a localized flood.

It is a worldwide flood.

And even if you look at your ESV Bible, there's increased corruption on the earth.

Chapter six, Noah and the flood.

Chapter seven, the flood subsides.

Chapter eight, and now we move to chapter nine.

The second greatest symbol in all the Bible is the rainbow.

And the Bible teaches this about the rainbow.

Genesis chapter nine, verse one.

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Doesn't this remind you of chapter one with Adam and Eve?

It should.

The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and on every bird of the heavens, upon everything that

creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea.

Into your hand, they are delivered.

Doesn't this sound like dominion over the animals?

Like God gave Adam?

Yes, it does.

And it should.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Now you can eat meat.

And to quote J. Vernon McGee, there's nothing great

about vegetarians.

It was a bunch of vegetarians who were destroyed in the flood.

There's gonna be fear and dread in the animals.

They would walk up to you before and now they've got to run for their lives.

Why?

Because you want to eat them.

That's what's happening there.

But you shall not eat flesh with its life.

Verse four, that is, it's blood.

Think about sacrifice and how sacred blood is in Leviticus 17.

The life of the creature is in the blood.

And I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar.

It is blood that makes atonement for one's life.

Now, the flood has wiped out everybody except eight people.

Maybe you think life is cheap and it doesn't matter.

God wiped them all out.

And so now if we'd like to hurt somebody or murder somebody, we should.

But God makes sure we don't assume taking life is a small matter in verse five and following.

And for your lifeblood, I will require a reckoning.

From every beast, I will require it.

And from man, from his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.

Do we believe in capital punishment?

Of course we do.

For God made man in his own image.

Here is the justification for capital punishment.

We know that in Romans 13, the government does not bear the sword for nothing.

Verse seven, and you be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply it.

Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, behold, I established my covenant with you and your offspring after you.

And with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as

many as came out of the ark, it is for every beast of the earth.

I will establish my covenant with you, verse 11, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the

waters of the flood.

And never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living

creature that is with you for all future generations.

And now we come to the rainbow, except the word rainbow is the same word for the military bow.

And he says here, and ESV gets it right.

I have set my bow, like a bow and arrow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the

covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will

remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

And the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

It's as if the instrument that God has used to kill everybody on earth and

flood everyone except for eight people, he now has hung up his bow.

And which way is the bow hung?

It's not pointed to the earth like he's ready to shoot down his fiery arrows of

judgment or water.

He's hung the bow up.

No longer to judge his creatures with water.

The bow is hung in the sky.

And it said now a picture of, if somebody is pointing a bow at you, a compound bow at you,

you might want to say, don't point that at me.

Here, instead of now judgment, here's a, it's a sign of mercy, a sign of faithfulness, a sign of God's peace.

And who mainly sees it?

Well, look at verse 16, look at the emphasis.

If you read your Bible too fast, you've missed it.

When the bow, the military bow, the rainbow is in the clouds, I, God,

it's a reminder to God, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant

between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

Yes, we see it and we think fears assuaged.

We're calm now because we see in the rainbow and God's not going to judge us, but it is a reminder to himself.

So we realize God will keep his word.

Verse 17, God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all

flesh that is on the earth.

It's the war bow now that I see in the sky, a pledge never to flood the

world again and kill all flesh with water.

The bow isn't a symbol of vengeance any longer, it's a symbol of peace and it's hung up in the sky.

Now, when you read the rest of scripture, there's some pretty dicey language about God

using a bow to judge.

Lamentations 2, he has bent his bow like an enemy with his right hand set like a foe and he has

killed all who were delightful in our eyes and he has poured out his fury like

fire.

Language of God's attacking with a bow, like a bow and arrow.

Similarly in Habakkuk, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation

every day.

If man does not repent, God will wet his sword.

He has bent his bow and made it ready.

He's pulled it back, yet now because of the flood, after the flood, because of God's mercy, he's made a

covenant with people and he said, I will disarm myself.

I'm not going to judge the earth again that way.

I've put it away, I've hung it up in the clouds.

The battle is over, the storm is over.

True or false, it had rained before the flood.

Hadn't even rained before the flood and now after the flood, we get this rainbow arc reminding us

of the faithfulness of God.

Secondly, turn to Ezekiel chapter one, please.

Thinking rightly about rainbows, we're going to look at Ezekiel one.

We've looked at Genesis chapter nine and we're gonna look at one other passage.

When you think rainbow, what should you think of?

Now, initially it's God's faithful mercy to never judge the earth again, even though

he could because men are wicked today just like they were wicked back in Genesis chapter

six.

Ezekiel, it's still nice to hear the pages turn, isn't it?

For the record, I have my iPad up here and I have the real Bible.

So the rainbow's been hijacked.

I want you to see that rainbow.

Every time, here's where I'm going.

Every time someone's in a march and they've got the rainbow flag up and they've got the wrong intentions, I want you

to think of the right intention and I also want you to think of this.

God, those people carrying those rainbow flags, I'm not better than they are.

Matter of fact, I was worse than they are and I probably am even worse now than they are, but you saved me and you justified me.

It's the cleansing blood of the lamb that set me free.

And would you please grant them mercy because

those people need mercy.

Those people need grace.

Sinners of all stripes need your mercy because otherwise the bow of your justice will

fire one day and it won't be with water, it will be with fire.

But Ezekiel 1, this is Ezekiel's ordination.

It's equivalent to Isaiah 6, view of Jesus on the throne.

Now I've been ordained only once and it wasn't quite like this, but you get to eavesdrop on

Ezekiel's ordination and we'll see the rainbow show up.

What do we think of when we think of the rainbow?

We ought to say, number one, God's faithfulness.

Now, number two, the faithfulness in God's glory.

Let's just read from the beginning.

Could there be a, just a, I don't know what, I want to say wild,

but I don't want to mean it untamed.

It's just an amazing passage.

How do you describe God?

In the 30th year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles of the Kibar Canal, the heavens were

open, I saw visions of God.

The fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year, the exile of King Jehoiachin, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the

son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Kibar Canal, and the hand of the Lord, Yahweh, was

upon him there.

Here comes the vision.

As I looked, behold, stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud with brightness around it,

fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were, gleaming metal.

And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures, and this was the appearance.

They had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a calf's foot, sparkle like burnished

bronze.

Under their wings, on the four sides, they had human hands, and the four had their faces and their wings thus.

The wings touched one another.

Each one of them went straight forward without turning as they went.

And as for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face.

The four had the face of a lion on the right, the four had the face of an ox on the left, and the four had a face of an eagle.

Such were their faces.

Their wings were spread out above.

Each creature had two wings, each which touched the wing of another while two covered their bodies.

And each went straight forward.

Wherever the spirit would go, they went without turning as they went.

And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like the burning coals of fire, like

the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the creatures, living creatures.

And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning, and the living creatures darted to and fro like the appearance of a

flash of lightning.

Verse 15, now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, each of,

one of each of the four of them.

As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction, their appearance was like the gleaming of barrel.

And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel.

When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went.

And the rims were tall and awesome.

And the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them.

And when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.

Wherever the living spirit wanted to go, they went and the wheels rose among them for the spirit of the living creatures was in the

wheels.

Then those went, these, when those went, these went.

And when those stood, these stood.

And when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Over the heads of the living creatures, there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like

awe -inspiring crystal spread out over their heads.

And under the expanse, their wings were stretched out straight one toward another.

And each creature had two wings covering its body.

That's what it looked like.

You wanna know what it sounded like?

Verse 24, and when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty,

a sound of tumult, like the sound of an army.

When they stood still, they let down their wings.

And there came a voice from the expanse over their heads.

When they stood still, they let down their wings.

And above the expanse and over their heads, there was the likeness of a throne.

In appearance like sapphire and seated above the likeness of a throne was a

likeness with a human appearance.

And upward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw as it were gleaming metal, like

the appearance of fire enclosed all around.

And downward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw as it were the appearance of fire,

and there was brightness all around him.

Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud of the day of the rain, so

was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

And when I saw it, I fell on my face.

And I heard the voice of one speaking.

Ezekiel, welcome to the ministry.

Verse 28, the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, the NAS translates it.

God surrounded by this radiance, how can you even describe it?

And yet when you see God with all his holiness, you're thinking Isaiah chapter six, holy,

holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

I think Isaiah is describing what Ezekiel's describing.

How do you describe God?

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And with the wheels and the fire and the moving and the turning and in the context of judgment, because

that's what's going to happen Ezekiel, you see the bow and it's the context of what?

God is merciful.

God is kind.

God is patient.

God doesn't always judge sin on people.

Sometimes he judges sin on his son instead.

Example three, turn to Revelation chapter four.

When you think of rainbow, you should say to yourself, while in lamentations and

Habakkuk, God uses a bow to judge, God made a promise to people.

And he said, I wouldn't flood the earth again because I'm kind and merciful.

And he hung the bow up in the clouds and you see a rainbow now and you just think that bow isn't aiming towards the earth.

He's hung it up because he's merciful and gracious and faithful.

Great is thy faithfulness.

And even in the context of judgment, God is merciful.

That is Ezekiel chapter one.

And now we see rainbow mentioned in Revelation chapter four.

When we go to the headquarters of the eternal God, focusing on his being the

creator in chapter four, Jesus, the redeemer, of course, in chapter five, the lamb

standing as if slain.

But here God, the King is in heaven.

You get a glimpse of heaven before all hell breaks loose or all heaven breaks loose.

And then Revelation chapter four, you see the faithful, beautiful promise keeping God.

After this, I looked Revelation four one and behold a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must

take place after this.

And once I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven and one seated on the throne.

What did Isaiah see?

What did Ezekiel see?

What did John see?

The same thing described differently.

It's one thing to say God's faithfulness is beautiful, but what about God's judgment?

And both are beautiful here.

And he who sat upon there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian and around the

throne was a rainbow that had an appearance of an emerald.

God's faithful, when you see the throne room of God, most people and kings back in the days of old,

whether it was Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar or anyone else, it would be a throne of judgment.

And when you think of God's throne, it is a throne of judgment and of mercy and of grace.

And all heaven praises God for his faithfulness and his promise -keeping nature,

not to destroy those who put their faith in Christ.

And around the throne, verse four, were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white

garments and golden crowns on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and pearls of peals of thunder.

And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire.

I mean, it is judgment everywhere, but there's the rainbow.

Verse eight, the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, full of eyes all around and within and day and night, they never

cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to

come.

And yet God's not just full of judgment, not just full of holiness, there's the rainbow, he is faithful.

And they say loudly, most likely in verse 11, worthy are you, our Lord and God to

receive glory and honor and power for you created all things.

You didn't abandon the world and by your will, they existed and were created.

No wonder in Revelation 19, Jesus is called faithful and

true.

When you think of a rainbow, instead of thinking rainbow push, rainbow coalition,

Norse mythology, I want you to say to yourself, when it comes to rainbows, I think of

God's faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.

Know that the Lord, your God, he is God, the faithful God, Deuteronomy 7.

Thy faithfulness surrounds you, God, Psalm 89.

And then isn't it good when you think of our Lord Jesus Christ, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the

truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, he is what?

Faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous, he is also the

propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole.

When I see rainbow flags from now on, I say to myself, I wanna pray for that person to receive the

mercy and kindness of God that I receive because one day there would be a judgment

day for said person.

Number two, lie number two.

Lie number two that I don't want you to believe.

First of all, I wanna get that rainbow back.

I don't want the rainbow hijacked.

Lie number two that you could be tempted to believe is that marriage must be redefined

as our society is evolving.

How do you define marriage?

We talked about that a lot last week.

Let me give you some dictionary definitions of marriage.

1828 Noah Webster, the act of uniting a man and a woman for life, wedlock.

Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes

for promoting domestic felicity and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Noah Webster, that's pretty good, isn't it?

More recently, Miriam Webster, the mutual relation of husband and wife, the institution whereby men and women

are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family.

More theologically neutered, Cambridge Dictionary, a legally accepted relationship between a woman and

a man in which they live as husband and wife.

The worst that I could find in Carta Dictionary online, legal relationship between spouses, a

legally recognized relationship established by a civil or religious ceremony between two people who intend to live together as

sexual and domestic partners.

You know, it's like the world, we don't like something, we just redefine it.

Just yesterday, I read an article entitled, I do, I do, I do.

Did you read it?

In Brazil, in front of a notary republic, three ladies getting married in an oath of

love.

So what do we do if we don't like what God says?

We just add adjectives to accommodate the sin of man.

We have civil marriage.

We have common law marriage, the cohabitation of a couple, even when they're not really married.

I think of the Lord Jesus in John chapter four, by the way, and the man that you're with now, who's not your husband.

We add other words to marriages when we don't like what marriage is or says.

We have something now called a shotgun wedding, shotgun marriage, right?

Open marriage.

And now we have something called gay marriage, homosexual

marriage.

Isaiah 520, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for

darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Our definition of marriage comes from the Bible in this covenant relationship between a man and a woman that reflects the

glory of Christ as he loves the church.

Lie number three, Jesus never mentioned the sin of homosexuality.

Turn to Mark chapter seven, please.

People love to say this.

Jesus never talked about homosexuality.

Well, that is baldly false, number one, that I'll show you.

Number two, if Jesus had his apostles say it, what does it matter if it's red letters or not?

But I will show you Mark chapter seven.

Jesus does talk about homosexuality along with every other kind of sexual sin, which is

sex outside of the marriage covenant between man and a woman as they reflect Christ

and the church.

Mark chapter seven, if you haven't read Mark lately, you ought to.

It's just a passage that, just a book that just screams the gospel of Jesus

Christ.

No one like him, no one talk like him.

Mark chapter seven, did Jesus mention homosexuality?

Mark 7 .14, after he called the multitude to him again, he began to say to them, listen to me, all of you, and

understand.

This is important.

Pay attention.

Verse 15, there's nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him.

But these things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

Can you be unclean by eating certain kinds of food?

Verse 16 is not found in the best manuscripts.

Verse 17, and when leaving the multitude, he had entered the house.

His disciples questioned him about the parable.

We need some clarification questions, Jesus.

Matthew said, Peter asked the Lord, explain the parable to us.

And he said to them, verse 18, are you so lacking in understanding also?

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him?

Because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated.

Thus, he declared all foods clean.

Don't you love that, by the way?

If you like steak, you love that.

It goes into the mouth, into the stomach, out the digestive system.

That doesn't make somebody unclean.

Look at the illustration, verse 20, and he was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

From within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts.

Look at the plurals.

Fornications, NES says, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness,

as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

Now, when ESV says evil thoughts in verse 21 and sexual immorality, that word sexual immorality,

is one Greek word and it's pornea, pornea.

You kind of get the idea of what it is.

It is unlawful sex, that is, outside of marriage.

New Testament scholar James Edwards said, quote, it can be found in Greek literature with reference to a variety of

illicit sexual practices, including adultery, fornication, prostitution,

and homosexuality.

Jesus doesn't have to have a sermon on homosexuality to say it's sinful.

He uses the umbrella term.

We might say sexual sin.

I remember that time where Corrie Ten Boom's father on the train, he was a watchmaker and he had all his tools with

him, and Corrie was on the train with Dad and she was reading something about a horrible sex

sin that happened in the culture.

And she said, Daddy, what's a sex sin?

And remember, Corrie Ten Boom's wise father never said anything.

And at the very end of the train ride, they're at their destination, and he said, please pick up my toolbox,

Corrie, and carry it.

And she dutifully went over, tried to pick it up, and she said, Dad, that's too heavy for me to carry.

And he said, Corrie, that's just like sex sin.

It's too heavy for you to carry, and when you're ready to carry it, I'll let you know.

Sex, porneia's like sex sin.

It could be all kinds of crazy things, but it includes homosexuality, porneia.

People say, well, Jesus didn't mention homosexuality.

Well, there's another more defined word for homosexuality, and Jesus didn't use it.

That's true, but porneia does include homosexuality.

Kevin DeYoung, the Bible talks about bestiality even less than it talks about homosexuality, but that doesn't make it an

insignificant issue, or incest, or child abuse, or 50 other sins the Bible barely

addresses.

Lie number four, lie number four.

You might be tempted to believe this if you're not careful.

Any disagreement with mainstream thinking regarding homosexuality makes you a

bigot and homophobic.

If you disagree, they're gonna say you're a bigot and you're homophobic.

Friends, if homophobia means calling sin sin, then I

accept that, but that's not what homophobia really is.

The Kinsey Institute said homophobia is fear, dislike, or

hatred of homosexuals.

We will look next time.

Of course we're not to hate homosexuals.

Not to hate sinners, we're to love sinners.

We don't have a rational fear, we just disagree, and so when people ad hominem you and say you're homophobic

for calling sin sin, I guess you can take it, but it's not true.

Lie number five, you might be tempted to believe this if you're not careful that

homosexuality is really gay.

Homosexuality is really a thriving lifestyle.

Friends, that's a lie.

Homosexuality is very, very dangerous.

Not just spiritually, but temporally as well.

I looked up the old definition of gay and it means happily excited, merry, keenly

alive, and exuberant, bright, lively,

and that is exactly how the media portrays homosexuals, but there's something you might not

think of.

In his book, Making Gay Okay, How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything,

he basically says, does the author Robert Reilly, why are there no warning labels for this sin?

Quote, where are the skull and crossbones?

How is it that there can be warning labels on cigarettes and alcohol, on almost every package of food,

health alerts for the level of air pollution, mandatory use of seatbelts in cars, and yet no cautionary

admonitions regarding homosexual practices?

We are counseled to change our dietary habits if we tend towards obesity because of health hazard it presents,

but not asked to modify our behavior if we engage in sodomy, which can be far more lethal.

I mean, try to buy a Big Gulp in New York City and you can't do it, but they won't say anything about the damaging

nature of homosexuality.

The Journal of American Medical Association, and if you'd like to have these details with more graphic words so you

can understand it better, parents, you can email me, I'll send you these, but I'm going to edit this as I say it.

But in the Journal of American Medical Association, there's a certain type of cancer that

is 4 ,000 higher in those who engage in sodomy.

In the fourth International AIDS Malignancy Conference at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Andrew

Grulich said that cancer among homosexuals was raised 37

-fold compared with the general population, and then he lists the other 15 things that are

health risks.

The health risks of gay sex, Dr. John Diggs said, quote,

homosexual and bisexual practicers lost up to 20 years of life expectancy.

The study concluded that if 3 of the population studied were gay or bisexual, the probability of a 20 -year -old

gay or bisexual man living to 65 years was only 32 compared to

the 78 for men in general.

The damaging effects of cigarette smoking pale in comparison.

Cigarette smokers lose an average of 13 years of life expectancy, and homosexual

men, 20.

Eastern Psychological Association, Dr. Satanova said, even apart from AIDS and with a long -term

partner, male homosexuals will die by more than

three decades sooner than heterosexual.

Violence between same -sex partners, two to three times greater according to the American College of Pediatrics,

and the list goes on and on.

Practically, pragmatically, gays aren't gay, and here's what I think to myself.

Those are only temporal punishments, not eternal.

And then finally, lie number six.

Lie number six, let's turn our Bibles to James chapter one, please.

Lie number six, since homosexuals are born as homosexuals, they're not responsible for their behavior.

That's the lie that's being pushed.

I was born this way, so I have no guilt.

Next time, we're gonna talk about our attitude and how we are to love as Jesus does.

We'll look at Matthew chapter nine and it's amazing how he loves sinners.

I'm so glad for that.

We need to think properly.

You're not gonna get this on Huffington, the Huffington, is it Huffington Post?

That's right, okay.

Sorry.

You're not gonna get this because people are afraid to talk about it because it's hate

speech, right?

They're gonna try to shut you down for saying these things.

Are we born certain ways and then we're not guilty for what we do?

1991, Simon LeVay of the Salk Institute reported after he did autopsy on

homosexual men and women and he said there was part of the inner brain, the anterior hypothalamus,

that was smaller within the gay community.

1992, Laura Allen and Richard Gorski at the University of California said that the corpus callosum

was larger in gay men than straight men.

1991, Michael Bailey, Northwestern University, found a correlation between genetic X chromosomes

and predisposition for homosexuality was inherited by the maternal side.

In 1993, July Dean Hammer, National Cancer Institute of Maryland, said as he

studied 76 gay men that there might be certain markers, the region of the X chromosome

designated XQ28.

So what do we do?

It's fascinating to me when you look at James chapter one, each person is tempted,

verse 14, when he is lured in and enticed by his what? Own

desires.

Let's grant, okay, for sake of argument because I'd rather talk about the Gospel anyway and forgiveness of sins.

Let's grant that you say I was born a homosexual.

Does God's holy standard change because you were born a certain way?

What are these people not factoring into the component, into the equation?

And that is the component of the fall of Adam.

Adam's sin has affected us all, right?

We're all dysfunctional.

We all have propensities.

If I grant to you you were born a homosexual, then please grant to me I was born a fornicator and an adulterer.

And so now because I'm born that way, I have a propensity for that.

Now am I scot -free?

The answer is obviously no.

Isn't that what happened at the fall?

One of the effects of the fall is enslavement to sin.

And you can't get out of sin.

You're held captive to do Satan's will, 2 Timothy 2.

And Romans 6 said, you're a slave to sin.

You can't do anything but sin.

Nature of sin, as Richard Hayes says, is that it's not freely chosen.

That's what it means to be in the flesh.

We are in bondage to sin, but still accountable to the righteous judgments of God for our actions.

We can't say, well, we're morally neutral because what I do is involuntary.

No, I'm a slave to sin and I do those things involuntarily, and I can't get out of them.

I need someone to come and rescue me.

It's going to take more than just a person to rescue me.

He's gonna have to have an infinite amount of righteousness to rescue me.

And he's going to have to be this eternal God who's got so much righteousness, and he enters into humanity through the

Virgin Mary and becomes a man.

He adds humanity to himself.

He's going to be the one that has to rescue me.

Because I am born a fornicator, adulterer, homosexual, et cetera.

Your will is involved even with involuntary sins, and you can study folks that teach that very thing.

It's true.

It's the fall of man.

People say, well, I was born a certain way, therefore I'm no longer held accountable.

It doesn't factor in the fall.

It doesn't factor in the fall.

All right, well, I want to get into 1 Corinthians 6 for some good news, but I guess it's the

bad news before the good news.

We'll talk next time about how Jesus deals with homosexuals, how he deals with sinners, how we

ought to deal with them, and is there hope for people who are enslaved to sexual sin?

That'll be next time.

Father, thank you for our time as we've looked at your word, and I'm thankful that you have given us a complete,

sufficient word.

These things haven't taken you by surprise, and Father, we just want to think rightly.

Probably all of us know people who are enslaved to homosexuality, and Father, we know you love sinners.

So would you rescue them?

Oh, they have other sins that they need to repent of as well, but this is a sin that so ensnares and so

enslaves and takes over.

It's so dangerous, both now and after death.

I pray that you would help us.

We don't have to yell.

We don't have to be mean.

We don't have to march, but we know what the word says, and we know you take people enslaved

to sin and then make them slaves of righteousness through gospel preaching.

You did it for us.

We didn't deserve it.

We weren't good.

We have revelation.

We have special revelation.

We have the Bible, and we still sin.

So, Father, protect us as we think about people rightly.

Protect our church as we want to talk about what the Bible says about this subject and all kinds of other

subjects, and, Father, help us to rejoice knowing that you sit in the heavens and you do

whatsoever you please, and you have extended your staff to us,

your scepter in the person and work of Christ Jesus, and you say, kiss the sun lest you perish in your ways,

and you granted us the ability to do that.

We pray for our friends who are enslaved, maybe pornography, homosexuality,

adultery, or anything else, that you would help them, that you would get glory as you

rescue them.

Such were some of you, Paul will teach us, and I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.