Greear and Litton: Plagiarism and Sin in the SBC

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Justin Peters. I hope that you and your family are doing well today

I want to thank you very much for joining me for this podcast. So I am recording this introduction

At the end in other words I just completed working on my video doing all the edits and all and as the as this work has gone on for the last

Couple days. I put a lot more in it than what I initially thought that I would so I'm I'm doing the

Intro here last, you know in a sense So once the main body of this video picks up here in just a few seconds

You're gonna you're gonna go back in time a couple of days. But as I started working on this video yesterday

Sunday, I discovered that Ed Litton has Continued to plagiarize he plagiarized something at least one thing.

I don't know of in his sermon from just yesterday And this was the day after he started

Scrubbing the Redemption Church's YouTube channel, so there's a lot here and There's a lot of theology in here we're gonna talk about the plagiarism we're gonna talk about how

The dangers of saying that God whispers about certain sins. I'm gonna give you the full context of this

I'm going to show you how JD Greer Took RC Sproul out of context and I'm going to end with the gospel.

So there's a lot here Please do watch it from start to finish Before you form an opinion

Please do watch the whole whole thing. So Thank you very much. And so now we are going to go back in time about 48 hours.

Here we go the big news in the evangelical world broadly speaking in the

SBC world more specifically speaking is the undeniable plagiarism by the

SBC's newly elected president and Ed Litton who is the pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, Alabama Ed Litton plagiarized a sermon by the preceding pastor or president of the

SBC JD Greer JD Greer preached a sermon on Romans 1 dealing with homosexuality in January of 2019 and then just about one year later

Ed Litton preached also preached a sermon on Romans 1 that undeniably plagiarized

JD Greer and I want us to talk about this. I'll show the clip that proves this

Beyond any reasonable doubt. I'm going to show you that you may have already seen it. But Yes as of this recording

JD Greer has issued a statement and Ed Litton has issued an apology of sorts and I want to be fair to these men

I'll show you what they had to say show you the video proof or show you what they had to say but we're gonna talk about this because this isn't so easily just brushed aside like I see many in the

More in the social justice wing of the SBC that are really wanting to do

What I'm seeing thus far from both from JD Greer and Ed Litton is not at all Satisfactory, so we're gonna talk about the plagiarism issues and we're also going to talk about what

I believe is is really the more serious issue and has potentially more impact and more poses more of a danger spiritually speaking and that is the theology that was presented in these sermons and So we're going to talk about that as well

Undoubtedly, there will be a lot more developments that are coming And in fact my understanding right now, according to what

I just have seen just a few minutes ago Over 100 of Ed Litton sermons have now been either removed from the church's

YouTube channel or have been set to Private so you you can't see them Only people who can see them would be ones that were directly and intentionally given

Access to them. So as I know for a fact, I know for a fact that dozens have been

Videos have been removed. I do know that for a fact as of right now and according to a report I just read over a hundred and There was

I don't know how else to To read that. I don't know what else you could read into that for the reason for removing those sermons unless this one sermon that has been getting so much attention is

Not the only sermon that Ed Litton has plagiarized. Why else remove them?

so I'm gonna I'm gonna show you the video proof and We'll pick back up after this is over So watch this video and I'm going to put in the in a little description here

You should be seeing it right about now. If you've already seen it, you can fast -forward to that minute mark that you see there and skip it and pick back up with my comments

Okay, dear ones. I need to say this before I show you the video proof of the plagiarism You heard me say just a second ago that I know for a fact that Dozens of videos have already been removed from I think

I said Litton's YouTube channel I should have said redemption churches YouTube channel the church that he pastored and you might have picked up that I said that in such a way that kind of Communicated that I I know a bit more than what

I was letting on and I do and I've given this some thought I do no more.

I'm in possession of 37 of the sermons that Ed Litton has preached

From his Roman series a friend of mine in, Texas Sent me all of these videos and I don't know who downloaded them, but It wasn't me, but he did send them to me and I and I have them

I Have watched one of them and the only one that I have watched is the sermon in question the sermon that has generated so much

Controversy I have watched that start to finish. I'll talk about the theology of it as we progress in this video the other 36

I'm not gonna watch I don't have I have neither the time and quite frankly

Nor do I have the interest to go through I think the plagiarism has been established as you will see

But here's the thing Why would you remove so many videos in fact?

According to something that I was just said as of this recording right now 143 of Ed Litton's videos from the

Redemption Church's YouTube channel have either been deleted privatized or hidden 143

Why in the world would you do that? Unless you know that there is more plagiarism there

I Can imagine I cannot fathom any other explanation other than There's a lot more plagiarism out there

To be found from Ed Litton now. I say that to say this

I'm not gonna be the one to find it As I said, I have neither the time nor the interest to do that.

I've got other things to do And I don't even know who it actually was who downloaded these videos.

I don't know if it was my friend or someone else but anyway I do have them but the point of the matter is this is that if this one individual downloaded them you can be sure that others have downloaded them as well and probably a lot more than these 37 and Even though I'm not gonna go comb through all these videos other people will

I'm not an investigative reporter Thank goodness. That's not my thing. I don't

I don't I don't do that, but others will and Others other people have these videos.

So Mr. Greer, mr Litton if you know that there are other plagiaristic shoes to drop

Then I would behoove you to come out and say that now because it's just a matter of time

It's not gonna come from me. It's not gonna come from My direction or anything else.

I have no idea who's gonna do it, but be sure there are other people There are people working on it. I have no doubt so it would behoove you to come out and just Be honest about this because the apology from You mr.

Litton if you're watching this only dealt with that one sermon and apparently there's a lot more out there

Unfortunately, okay. So let's go. I'll show you the video proof of the plagiarism and then we're gonna we're gonna talk about The integrity issues here.

We're gonna talk about plagiarism issues and we're going to talk about the theology which concerns me even more

Here we go We'll give you a warning here that this might be the toughest week that we will have in the book of Romans Romans 1 the end of it is tied in difficulty only with Romans 5

Romans 9 and Romans 11 This may be one of the toughest passages we face in the book of Romans.

This is the steep climb I talked about So in fact, let's just sort of loosen things up right now Everybody turn right now to your neighbor look him in the eyes

If you know them if you know them put your hand on their shoulder and say this is gonna be a really tough week for You okay? And tell them say

I'm praying for you to have the faith and humility to receive this word I want you to turn to your neighbor right now, and I want you to say

I know this sermon is gonna be really tough For you, but I'm here praying that you will listen and obey whatever God says go ahead do that right now

But y 'all we believe that God's Word is good. Do we not you see we believe that God's Word is good

And some of my travels overseas. I'll I'll go into these temples that are erected to a foreign God I remember being in one of them a while ago over in somewhere

In Asia and Paul David Tripp is a favorite pastor of mine to read. He's a pastor in Philadelphia He was on a mission trip to Nepal and he went he was taken by a missionary into a temple

And there was I go in this temple. It's just gigantic I mean beautiful temple and right in the middle of it is a about a 25 -foot statue of a

Goddess who has multiple breasts and multiple arms, and and he said and I will not go into details, but he does explain it

That there was an idol in the center of this temple He said it was one of the most grotesque Things he's ever seen watch these worshipers come in and they would prostrate themselves before this statue and many of them were very emotional

Many had traveled a lot of miles to get to this very poor some of them and taking the little money they had and pointing it out and offering before this

Statue of this god, but what really turned his stomach wasn't the shape of the idol It was how people were bowing down to it kissing it putting money on it

He met a family that had walked for four months to get to this idol later finding myself

Just going back over that incident in my mind and and feeling sorry for the people there and thanking god kind of in my heart

That I wasn't I wasn't like them, but he walked out of that temple Saying thank god i'm not like them then in the middle of that thought it just occurred to me

I had a whole list of things in my heart that have taken god's place just like that statue had when the spirit of god said paul

You are exactly like them I compared it to if the earth were to say to the sun I am sick and tired of you being in the middle of the solar system

If the earth were to ask the sun in our solar system, i'm sick and tired of floating out here in nothingness

Surrounding you constantly. I want to be the center of this solar system. The sun might just say to the earth

All right, have it your way The earth is 30 000 times smaller than the sun and would not have the ability to keep all the planets in orbit

And so the solar system would begin to unravel simply because the sun gave to the earth what it asked for Folks our entire solar system would fall apart

Why because the earth doesn't have the power of light and it doesn't have the power of gravitational force

To hold this solar system in existence. Oh sexual disorder. That was the first thing verses 26 and 27

Now we've got economic disorder. There's economic disorder. Look at verse 29 Social disorder he says there's social disorder social disorder just think facebook and that's just on facebook

Uh, then you got spiritual disorder. There's spiritual disorder there. You could think of that as family disorder

And there's family disorder. They disobey their parents You see there are three ways.

I see us really going wrong with this in the church at large three I'll tell you three ways. I think we've gone wrong

Number one and one we believe that god doesn't really care about this first one That we don't think god cares about this issue

We make the gospel message is not let the gay become straight The gospel message is let the dead become alive and the gospel message is not let the gay get straight

The gospel message is let the dead come to life Which leads me to the second way that I see us going wrong here.

Number two. We think it's the worst sin Here's the second thing. I think we do we go wrong and that is thinking homosexuality is the worst of all sins

Jen wilkin who's one of our favorite bible teachers here and who's actually leading our women's conference She said she said we ought to whisper about what the bible whispers about And we ought to shout about what it shouts about and the bible appears more to whisper when it comes to sexual sin

Compared to its shouts about materialism and religious pride in the bible sexual sin

Is whispered compared to the shout god makes about greed and judgmentalism

Throughout jesus's ministry in his life We see him demonstrating great just incredible sympathy for those caught in sexual sin and great animosity toward the religiously proud jesus forgave prostitutes

But he was harsh with religious materialist In fact, jesus one time not one time ever said that it was difficult for the same sex attracted to go to heaven

He did say it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle Eye of a needle than it was for a religiously proud or materialistically successful person to enter into the kingdom of god

Matter of fact, he said it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one of these

Only when we grasp only when we grasp this truth Will we become ministers of the gospel when we understand like paul did that we are the worst sinner that we know

Only then when you only when you understand that will you? Understand that if jesus came to die for you that there's nobody he didn't die for We can't grasp this gospel till we confess with paul these words in first timothy 115

He says this is a trustworthy saying Deserving full acceptance that christ has come into the world to save sinners of whom?

I am the foremost Here's the third way that we go wrong number three Assuming it's hard for lgbtq people to get to heaven early we go wrong thinking lgbt people can't go to heaven

Homosexuality does not send you to hell You know how I know that because heterosexuality does not send you to heaven

Homosexuality does not send people to hell. How do I know that because heterosexuality doesn't send people to heaven rosaria butterfield whose story?

I've shared with you before here She was a practicing lesbian very outspoken professor of literature and women's studies at syracuse university

She was a practicing lesbian and a committed lesbian relationship a culture warrior on the far left

She said it was romans one that brought her to faith in christ and then she said and I quote Homosexuality is not the core of our rebellion against god a desire to be god is

A desire to be the one who gets to declare good and evil to play judge rather than be judged A desire to use god's creation for our own gratification

Rather than with pleasure for his glory undeniable Plagiarism now to be fair after watching that video.

You might think the entirety of ed litton's sermon was lifted from jd greer's Uh, that's not the case.

I watched the I watched the entirety of both greer's and litton's sermons and there's undeniable plagiarism there, but They weren't exactly alike uh, although After having watched the entirety of both sermons you there could have been more

Examples of plagiarism cited than what we saw in this particular video So a lot was there but not the entirety but really doesn't matter.

It's obvious that there is plenty there to qualify as Plagiarism, it's not just litton's plagiarism though.

It's it's greer's plagiarism as well His uh plagiarism of paul tripp now watch this section again and when

I first saw this It really raised my eyebrows watch this in some of my travels overseas

I'll i'll go into these temples that are erected to a foreign god I remember being in one of them. Um a while ago over in uh somewhere

In asia there was I go in this temple. It's this gigantic I mean beautiful temple and right in the middle of it is a about a 25 foot statue of a goddess who has multiple breasts

And multiple arms, okay when I first saw this sermon from greer

That part right there just did not Resonate with me at all. It did not at all seem authentic It it very much seemed like he was making that up when he said it was somewhere.

Uh, you know in in uh, asia uh, and and then he does goes on to describe these, um, statues and these idols and it

I just thought when I first saw that that that that's not a first -hand Experience right there because i'm i'm familiar myself with the general idea here of these idols

The thing is is I can remember exactly where I was when I saw these things. I was in india in 2015 and you saw all over india at least all over the area that we were in in india kakanada and other places uh, you saw these

And so you're right there. I can even remember the city. I don't have to I don't have to go back and think uh in asia

That just didn't resonate with me I thought that that's not a that's not a first -hand memory that he's pulling up there

Because i've seen these statues. I mean they are Grotesque, there's a lot of different ones. There's one the biggest one we saw

Like a half half man half monkey and we mike miller and I who we were in india together

We started calling him monkey man. I mean these grotesque statues and you'd see them various places and they were they were put up on uh on some platforms with steps walking up to them people would all walk up these steps and and they would put offerings of I don't know that I can remember seeing them put money

Maybe they do but um, but they put food I would see bowls of rice and stuff at the bases of these grotesque

Statues and mike miller and I would look at each other like do they not do they not realize that uh,

You know monkey man here or whatever statue, you know with the eight arms or whatever. It's That statue's not eating the rice that they keep putting up there

Uh, so I mean I know the general thing of what he's talking about, but I can remember exactly where I was so, um

But that when I first saw that I thought that is not a first -hand experience. He's that's not something that he himself is is pulling from from And then come to find out sure enough

He's lifting that from paul trip And uh now jd greer did

Address this. I want to read to you what he put up in his statement june 25th saturday june 25th jd greer says

In that particular message. I shared a story with our congregation about a moment of realization. I had after visiting pagan temples in asia

That the heartbreaking idolatry we see displayed in those temples is something endemic to the human heart

What starts as bewilderment and even a little disgust at the grotesque displays of idolatry?

Turns into a lament over the condition of the fallen human heart We all possess the story was inspired by a similar one.

I read from paul trip Sharing his observations as he had visited a temple in northern india.

That's where I was um More eastern india, but but as a former missionary to southeast asia,

I had had the same experience in fact Almost every missionary I know has had this same moment of revelation

It's a common insight among missionaries on the field one that is shared often in prayer and support circles

Uh, I felt no hesitation in changing the here's the problem. I felt no hesitation in changing the details of the story

To match my own experience or no need to cite paul trip as the source

As the events I tell them a actually happened to me And b are common among missionaries

I did convey to ed litton where I got the inspiration for the story and ed having never lived in asia

Chose to tell the story in paul's words and attribute it to paul Well a couple things here.

Um a what you're describing Mr. Greer did not actually happen to you by your own admission.

You're pulling that from Paul trip, but I want to unless you think I am being too harsh

I want to read to you an article that was written by d .a. Carson For the gospel coalition back in 2010 and uh

Now my citation of this Is not an endorsement of the gospel coalition.

I have grave concerns With the gospel coalition and the direction they have been going for a number of years.

They're They're fully woke and fully embraced social justice And uh now they're exegeting movies.

But um, so this is not an endorsement of the gospel coalition I have grave concerns here, but um d .a.

Carson wrote this about plagiarism Back in 2010. He says first Taking over another sermon and preaching it as if it were yours

Is always and unequivocally wrong and if you do it you should resign or be fired immediately

Well, that's what ed litton has done The wickedness is along at least three axes

One you are stealing two you're deceiving the people to whom you're preaching more on that in a minute number three

Perhaps worst you are not devoting yourself to the study of the bible to the end That god's truth captures you molds you makes you a man of god and equips you

To speak for him. Amen to that If preaching is god's truth through human personality

So phillips brooks then serving as nothing then serving is nothing more than a kind of organic recording device in playback mode does not qualify in in Watch this incidentally

Changing a few words here and there in someone else's work does not let you off the hook retelling personal

Experiences as if they were yours When they were not makes the offense all the uglier

That this offense is easy to commit because of the availability of source material in the digital age

Does not lessen its wickedness any more than the ready availability of ready availability of porn

In the digital age does not turn pornography into a virtue so 11 years ago now d .a.

Carson Spoke specifically to this issue with jd greer's plagiarism of paul trip saying

Retelling personal experiences as if they were yours when they were not makes the offense all the uglier so jd greer despite Trying to explain himself nonetheless

This is plagiarism and he should just come out and say I plagiarized paul trip.

Okay. Now I want to discuss ed litton's plagiarism on the same day that jd greer released his statement

Saturday june 26. I may have said 25th earlier, but it was a 26 ed litton released a statement of his own

Dealing with this and uh, I have links below in the description if you would like to read the entirety of their

Respective statements, of course, you can do that. But just for time's sake i'm going to read the pertinent parts of this and so ed litton says

We employ a preaching team approach at redemption church that is comprised of eight men from our staff

Congregation who meet weekly to discuss study insights outlines and approaches to the text

This sermon prep process includes working in the languages consulting commentaries and books and listening to strong communicators okay he has a team of eight men

Helping him write sermons There's your problem at least part of it

Ed litton is not writing his own sermons. He has a team of eight men at least they're men but eight men that help him write his sermons who

Look at the languages and consult commentaries and reference books and all this kind of stuff and I am sure that ed litton has some input but if if you're

One of a team of eight and I don't know maybe he's the ninth but whatever if if you're only if you're one of a team of eight

Uh that that is doing sermon preparation week in and week out then you're not writing your own sermons

You're not doing your own study Others are doing it for you

That's a problem I have a number of friends who are pastors And i've talked to several of them in the last couple of days since this really blew up And I asked them

I already knew the answer, but I asked them anyway, just to go on the record um How many how many people do you have help you writing?

How many people help you write your sermons? And to a man they've said one one

They write their own sermons And friends that's the way it ought to be done when

I write a sermon i'm the one who writes it uh, now there is nothing at all wrong with consulting commentaries or language helps or reference materials or Reading books or that kind of thing and and maybe maybe for example, you've you're using something for an illustration.

Maybe it's a Historical example and you know some you've got a history buff in your church and you say hey, uh, you know

Uh, do I have this right about the you know, the battle of the bulge or gettysburg or whatever, you know

And seeking someone who's an expertise in a particular field that you might be using as an illustration or something like that That's perfectly fine.

Nothing, you know, no harm. No foul. Nothing wrong with that But you ought to be writing your own sermon.

You ought to be doing your own study Scripture tells us that we are to study

To show ourselves approved unto god a workman who need not be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth we are to do our own study now perfectly fine to to go to someone that you know is a

Uh well versed in scripture and say hey You know, this is the text i'm dealing with this is my understanding of it

What do you think you know, do you think i'm i've got this right do you see any problems with this or you know

Perfectly fine to to do that from time to time and and i've done that from time to time

Hey, you know, this is my understanding of the text and you know, i'm out in left field here But I write my own sermons every pastor friend

I have writes his own sermons And so if you've got a team of eight men helping you

Write your sermons you're not the one that's doing the heavy lifting in sermon preparation

That's a problem and you know, it's uh, ed linton is not the only one That uh does this

I I know of some other big name preachers Of large churches and i've talked to some people who used to be in these churches work for them

Work for the particular pastor and two big names and if I named them you would you would recognize them um

That have teams of people teams of men maybe women too I don't know but help them with their sermon teams that help them with their sermon

That's a problem That's an integrity issue Uh, I want to know and by the way

I I know from firsthand that john macarthur writes his own sermon so when

I say big name i'm not including john macarthur, but more of the Uh kind of seeker oriented type churches pastors, but anyway

When i'm in church and i'm sitting in the pew and i'm

Watching the pastor preach and teach. I want to know that that man Has spent hours and hours and hours

Studying the scriptures On his own that his that he has studied to show himself approved that That he need not be ashamed that this man has

Uh saturated his mind with the text studied it um outlined it and got to the meaning of the text and that this

This meaning that text has impacted him and is shaping his thinking so I I don't want

To hear from a man who has a whole team of people helping him write his sermons That's a problem.

So even in his apology, there's a there's a huge Huge issue here. Well, he's very busy.

Well, he's got a big church He's got a lot of demands on his time as a pastor Your number one job

Is to shepherd the flock feeding the flock and you can't

Teach what you do not know. You should not be preaching to others Any kind of truth that you have not arrived at from your own diligent study

And this study has impacted you Impacted your life impacted your mind

Filled your heart With the appreciation of who god is Anyone can take material that's been compiled for him and get up on a sunday morning and deliver it

You know, you could you could get you get tom cruise to do that and get an actor to do that I want to know that my pastor has been in the word and studied

To show himself approved and that's that's not what is being described here I was actually shocked that he he admitted to this linton continues

In that process. I learned about my friend jd greer's messages on romans and discovered what he had recently preached

Resonated with the direction god was leading me and our preaching team

Please do not blame god even in an indirect way for your plagiarism

God was not leading you in this direction. Mr litany nor was he leading jd greer in the direction as we shall see because the theology

In these sermons was so bad So bad, don't don't blame god for this

Linton continues. I found that jd greer's message on romans one was insightful Particularly his three points of application with his permission.

I borrowed some of his insights in those three closing points The story of paul david tripp was from his devotional new morning mercies on january 22nd his story took place in india um, i'm sure it did because that's exactly what

I saw in india as well, but the point here is that uh, Linton says that this is really

Okay, because he had jd greer's permission Even if he did have jd greer's permission, and i'm sure that he did

That does not excuse him that does not get him off the hook in any way because He went in front of his entire congregation

And he preached that message as though it was his own as though it came from His diligent study and it did not in fact according to what linton admits

None of his sermons come purely from his own diligent study because he's got a team of eight eight men that help him

Write sermons, so he's not off the hook Linton goes on to say next paragraph here

Our team also with his permission used the summit church's chapter and verse breakdown of romans as we mapped out our entire series

Now watch this out of a commitment to full transparency. I have gone back through all the 46 sermons in this series okay, the very fact that he has gone back and Removed 46 of the sermons from his roman series 37 of which

I am in possession, but the very fact that he's gone and taken those down shows you that he knows

There's a problem. He knows that there's a problem with far more than this just one individual sermon in fact

As of this recording and i'm recording this segment through this over a couple days uh on the evening of June 27th sunday evening uh

He has removed either removed deleted Uh privatized hidden so only people with you know a pass a link or whatever can get into it, but 143 143 of his sermons have now disappeared from redemption church's youtube channel

What does that tell you? You know, I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt but for the life of me

I cannot imagine a reason any other reason other than this issue at hand this plagiarism

What would motivate him to remove 143 Sermons and there may be more to come who knows

Linton continues. I hold to the same study process on each sermon.

So there you go by his own admission this eight member team Helps him construct

All of his sermons all of them. He does it for each sermon as any pastor who preaches regularly knows

We often rely on scholars and fellow pastors to help us think and communicate more clearly with the goal of faithfully preaching the truths of scripture to our congregations

Yes, we rely on other What other men have said other faithful? Uh faithful preachers who have studied who have studied to show themselves approved.

Yes, we can consult these men we can consult the The faithful men who have gone before us and some of our faithful contemporaries.

Yes, that's fine. It's part of studying But we don't get those men to write our sermons for us

There's a big difference. There's a huge difference But i'm sorry for not mentioning jd's generosity and ownership of these points

I should have given him credit as I shared these insights Yeah That's his apology

And and this is this is what I see a lot of the more Moderate, which is just a code word for liberal but uh moderate people in the spc saying more the social justice guys and gals are saying oh

Ed linton has apologized and he's put this to rest He has only apologized for not mentioning jd greer

In the ownership of these points in this one particular sermon What about the other?

143 that have been removed in fact um This is sunday and uh after I got home from church started working on this video again

I was curious to see if ed linton had mentioned this controversy in his morning message, so um, they had the

The live stream already posted on youtube. And so I went to youtube and I listened To his sermon and I want you to hear this

Has anyone in your family when you came to faith in christ accused you of jesus being a crutch? I'm gonna tell you what.

I told someone who did that to me. I said he's not my crutch He is my iron lung. He is my heart.

He is my very being Now again, I was watching this sermon just because I wanted to see if ed linton was going to address the plagiarism controversy

But when I heard him say that I thought you know, that's an interesting Phrase there. I've never heard that before.

You know, jesus is not my crutch. He's my iron lung. That's that's pretty catchy And uh, so I thought

You know, i'm gonna google that And so I did google it And the first thing that comes up is this quote

From nancy hicks now. I'm not familiar with nancy hicks. I never had uh come across her until today, but she is apparently a christian uh

Speaker author she goes around apparently on on uh, kind of like a speaking circuit of sorts

And I I don't know much about her but uh, just looking around her website.

She She has been featured on jesus calling which that's That's if you've heard me talk about jesus calling, you know how

I feel about that And then I took this screenshot that's also on her website and she takes acts 28 31

Which is talking about the apostle paul preaching the gospel and she inserts she inserts

She in there and uh, which that that just rubs me the wrong way. But anyway

Um, it turns out this phrase jesus is not my crutch. He's my iron lung

This is a line in her book entitled meant to live and uh, she says

I download this is kindle version, but she says, uh They're not worried about being told that jesus is their crutch crutch.

Nothing. They think he's my iron lung so friends, you know,

I i'm sorry, this is just It's it's too close, uh, I suppose it might be possible that Ed litton came up with this on his own and he really did tell someone as he said that he himself told someone

Does anyone in your family when you came to faith in christ accused you of jesus being a crutch? I'm gonna tell you what.

I told someone who did that to me. I said he's not my crutch. He is my iron lung So mr.

Litton, did you yourself tell someone personally that jesus is not your crutch he's your iron lung

Or did you or one of your eight team members who helped you write this sermon?

Read that in nancy hick's book dear friends Plagiarism is serious.

It is Theft it is dishonoring to the people To whom you are preaching?

It is ultimately dishonoring to god and It is very serious and it wasn't too long ago that if a pastor

Was caught in this kind of plagiarism. He would have been he would have been defrocked but here's the thing it

I I hesitate to say it's hard to come down too hard on on ed litton

Because it is very serious. But here's the thing that the fact of the matter is That the southern baptist convention has had a culture of plagiarism for decades rick warren as one prime example has encouraged pastors

To download his own sermons for a fee but to download his own sermons and preach them

As though they were their own He's encouraged pastors to do that I have sat in churches my wife and I Shortly before we got married.

We went to a church in uh, vicksburg, mississippi And uh, we sat in that service and and the pastor

Got up and and preached and as he was preaching I was thinking to myself I've heard this before I've heard it before and and so, uh

Even though this is 11 years ago. We still had still had google back then and so sure enough His sermon was word

Practically word for word the entire thing illustrations and everything Straight from rick warren straight from his purpose -driven church

It's rick warren sermon. He never gave credit to rick warren but friends The sbc has remained silent on this though.

Everybody knows everybody in the sbc knows That this has been going on with rick warren for many many years couple of decades at least and um

Nobody says anything about it Plagiarism is nothing new. In fact, we can trace it back all the way to the old testament

I want to read to you a verse from jeremiah chapter 23 jeremiah chapter 23 verse 30.

This is god speaking Therefore behold I am against the prophets declares the lord.

Yahweh Who steal my words from each other? That's what's going on today preachers today are stealing words from one another

And it does not matter if you get the permission of the one from whom You are stealing if you do not give credit to that person when you get up before your flock uh, you are

I'm not going to call it misleading. You're lying to your flock. You're presenting that material As your own when it's not your own and you know, it's not your own

So stealing words from one another this goes all the way back to jeremiah uh, in fact

I would encourage you to read jeremiah chapter 23 beginning Beginning, I believe it's in verse 9 and god gives an absolute blistering denunciation of false prophets,

I mean a blistering denunciation of And one of the things that false prophets do is they steal words from one another and that's what's going on today now

I want to return to jd greer In the statement that he released on june 26 jd greer goes on to say

Much has also been made of my statement that we should whisper about what the bible whispers about and shout about what it shouts about I cited jen wilkin in that statement and noted that she was one of our favorite bible teachers

She was quoting from the late r .c. Sproul in his book. What's in the bible co -authored by robert walgamuth in their chapter on creation

I applied that quote to the difference in the emphasis jesus places on the dangers of pride and greed versus Sexual sin and said that given the sheer number of times jesus talks about pride and greed

It has is it is as if he saved most of his volume to warn about pride and greed

Thus I said we should look more fearfully at our own prideful greedy hearts Than we do haughtily at the sexual dysfunction of others

Okay, we'll pause there and come back to it in just a second so jd.

Greer was citing jen wilkin And jen wilkin was citing

Quoting r .c. Sproul and it is indeed a quote from r .c. Sproul in his book

What's in the bible? But friends I have that book And R .c.

Sproul's quote about we should not shout about what the bible whispers about That has absolutely nothing

To do with sexual sin. It was indeed in his chapter on creation now

I want to show you exactly where this comes from this is the kindle version of what's in the bible and There in the left -hand column you see

Sproul talking about the six days of creation He says were the six days of creation a form of poetry and symbolism

Or were they literally 24 hour days? I find that it is always dangerous to shout where god has whispered so Sproul is not talking about sexual sin here.

He's talking about the days in Genesis were these literal 24 hour periods or were they

Was it some kind of poetry that represents a much longer period of time? Now this book was first published in 2003

So I want to show you In a firm in defense of Sproul who can no longer defend himself because he is with christ that Sproul Very much was a young earth

Creationist who believed in a literal interpretation of genesis he came to that a bit later, but this is from Ligonier's website.

This is a q a that was posted in 2011 so the question is what is r .c.

Sproul's position on creation? And show you a screenshot from this article

Sproul writes for most of my teaching career. I considered the framework hypothesis to be a possibility

But I have now changed my mind I now hold to hold to a literal six -day creation the fourth alternative and the traditional one now what he means by the fourth alternative earlier in the article he lays out four possibilities or theories the gap theory the day age theory the framework hypothesis

And then finally the fourth and that is the six day 24 hour period and so that's what he means

According to the reformation hermeneutic the first option is to follow the plain sense of the text One must do a great deal of hermeneutical gymnastics to escape the plain meaning of genesis one through two

The confession makes it a point of faith that god created the world in the space of six days

Indeed you have to do a lot of hermeneutical gymnastics to get around the plain reading and plain meaning of genesis one through two and so uh earlier

Sproul apparently was not real settled on how to read genesis one through two

But he later came to the right understanding and so that it's really unfortunate that jd greer would

Use that quote from sproul in in his statement that he put up Uh and connect it to creation just kind of leave it there as though Sproul never was settled on how to read genesis one and two.

Well, he was this this was posted in 2011 and so sproul is no longer here to Defend himself.

He is with christ. I envy him Uh, so I figured I would go to bat for r .c.

Sproul Yes, he did believe in a literal reading of genesis one through two god created in six 24 hour periods

And there's one other place in the book that r .c Sproul talks about shouting and whispering there in the right hand column sproul says

As I said in the first chapter regarding the how of creation I believed that a bible student should be careful not to shout when god whispers

And he says as it concerns many of the issues regarding the end times god chose to be sparing in his disclosures to Whisper so this is the other place in the book.

The only other place in the book where Sproul uses this motif of shouting and whispering and he used it in reference to eschatology

Referring to the different views of the end times Amillennialism postmillennialism premillennialism and and there's different subdivisions within each of those.

So, uh Sproul is simply saying Yeah, you can have your view but don't be too dogmatic about it, you know, don't break fellowship over it

So the shouting and whispering quote from r .c. Sproul has nothing to do

With sexuality much less homosexuality r .c. Sproul was crystal clear

On what the bible has to say about sexual sin including homosexual sin

This was not something that r .c. Sproul believed that the bible whispered about and it is really

Really unfortunate and really disappointing that the former president of the southern baptist convention jd greer

Would take that quote from r .c. Sproul that has nothing to do with Sexuality and apply it to that really unfortunate and it's intellectually dishonest to do it

Okay, dear ones. So now I want to move into the theology of these respective sermons and I will affirm and I want to be fair to these guys

I'm, not trying to take anybody out of context here put words in their mouth or you know Selectively cut things to make you know, portray them in the worst possible way.

I don't want to do that uh I will affirm that both greer and lytton affirmed that homosexuality is

Sinful they did uh and lytton especially even quoted first corinthians 6 and he said if you if you practice these things first corinthians 6 9 through 11 paul says

Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor effeminate nor homosexuals nor revilers drunkards swindlers

Will inherit the kingdom of god? Lytton quoted that verse and he said if you practice these things homosexuality included you will not inherit the kingdom of god to his credit

So it's not that they said Homosexuality was not sinful. In fact, I want to put the links to these sermons below in the

In the description. Well, I guess I can only put the link to to greer sermon because lytton's sermon has been removed

But i'll put the link to greer sermon down there and and watch it. I would encourage you to do that And and judge for yourself.

So it's not that they said it's not Sinful they did It's just that they diminished

The sexual sin now I want to show you a clip of something that didn't really get any attention, but I think it absolutely should have and interestingly, it's yet another example of plagiarism, but Watch this from first from jd greer and then from ed lytton

In fact, let me say something here that I fear Might get misunderstood, but I feel like it's important enough that even though I might get misunderstood i'm gonna say it anyway in this sense

You can almost think of homosexuality as an affliction and not just a sinful choice Because for most gay people they feel like they didn't choose those desires

In fact, here's what i've learned after two decades of pastoring almost every person i've encountered in the church at least

Almost every person who struggles with the same sex attraction Is almost always dealing first and foremost with an unanswered prayer

You and I may think that homosexuality is a sinful choice And I have actually said that from this pulpit

But many gay people that I know Don't think they've ever chosen this desire

And in a real sense, they may be right They are right And it isn't because their desires are god -given

Their desires like mine are sin given Sin is an affront to a holy god and every person

I know who struggles with same -sex attraction Has an unanswered prayer in their life I'm talking about people who struggle with it

And the unanswered prayer is god. Why didn't you take this away from me? Okay, I am not at all comfortable with what you just heard what we just heard first jd

Greer says that you can think of homosexuality almost think of it not as a sinful choice, but rather as an affliction

No My cerebral palsy is an affliction Multiple sclerosis is an affliction muscular dystrophy cancer arthritis

Lou gehrig's disease these things are afflictions. They are not choices And so for him to say that I I think is is very dangerous and disingenuous and and then he says that Uh, it's it's a result of unanswered prayer both greer and litton

Said that that it's it's a result of unanswered prayer That comes perilously close to the line if not crossing the line of Even in an indirect way like this was to blame god for Your homosexual desires.

Oh, well, if god had just answered my prayer Then these things would have been taken away. And so you're really laying the blame at god's feet

That's bad that that that is bad Jesus has come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.

I will give you rest the one who Who the sun sets free is free. Indeed.

We are new creatures in christ All things passed away behold. All things are made new.

So uh, don't even in an indirect way even begin to to to blame god for your sinful desires

Can someone who is regenerate still have Sinful desires

Yes, we can but we are also indwelt by the third person of the triune godhead and we are to Put to death the deeds of the body romans 8 13.

We are to take every thought captive per second corinthians 10 verse 5 we are to do these things go to war with our flesh as a matter of uh part of our progressive personal sanctification

And so you can't just say oh well i've prayed for god to take this way and he hasn't so you know

I'm stuck with it. No Go to war Go to war with your flesh Uh, yes, uh new christians or new creatures in christ believers

Yes, we still struggle with temptation But we are also indwelt by the holy spirit.

We have the word of god. We have the fellowship of the saints We have the we have the the local body of believers and all these things god uses

In our progressive sanctification and we are to take these thoughts captive and go to war with our flesh

If you have been saved out of alcoholism Don't go hang out at a bar to do your witnessing, you know

I mean take some common sense orders and go to war with your flesh So, uh, i'm really not comfortable with what we just heard from grier or from lytton and of course plagiarism

And one of the points that greer and lytton both made over and over and over they really Belabored this throughout their sermons is that homosexuality?

Yes, it is sinful But it's no more sinful than any other sin. It's just one sin of among many and so we should not place more emphasis on homosexuality than any than any other sin and so I'm going some this is leading to the shouting whispering thing.

So I just want to lay a little groundwork. Um, watch this In one sense, we shouldn't be surprised that this is where paul turns first paul is not picking on homosexuality

He is not saying that it is a worse sin than all the other sins It's just that if god made us in his image male and female

Then it shouldn't surprise us that the effects of our rejection of god in the center of our life would show up in those primary relationships

Paul cites homosexuality one scholar says not because it is a greater sin than any other but because it is the clearest evidence

Of a rejection of god's order in creation Now again, it is important to realize that paul is not just randomly picking on homosexuality here

He's just citing it as one of the clearest examples of elevating our desires over the creator's design

We're in a situation in which we say it's not about what the creator wants. It's not about the creator's design

It's about what I want Homosexuality is just one one example though And so paul goes on to mention the other ways that our idolatry the other ways that are prioritizing of our desires over the creator's

Design other ways that we see creation unravel all of us in some way have experienced corrupted sexual desire

But the point is that the central sin is the same We rejected god's rule and substituted our own in its place

That manifests in different people differently and we don't get to choose our corruption And I want to make something very plain.

We are not evolving in our views on the subject of this homosexuality What we are doing is seeking biblical clarity

Nor does it make same -sex attraction more sinful than greed And so both lytton and greer go out of their way to talk about how yes homosexuality is sinful

But it's not more sinful than any of the other sins Like gossip and greed and all these other things.

So yeah, it's sinful but not more sinful than any other sin And in a sense, yes, they are they are right james 2 10

Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point is guilty of all so yes

If you break even one of god's laws one time Then that is more than enough to contend you to an eternity in hell.

That is true however Different sins do have different consequences if I were to If I were to murder someone in cold blood the consequences of that at least in a temporal sense would be more significant to me than if I were to You know steal a pencil off of someone's desk at the office or something like that so Different sins do have different temporal consequences

But yes in in god's In in god's judicial economy. Yes, if you break one of god's laws, you've broken them all that is true

But they present all of this in a very unbiblical way Watch this and what you're about to see this was actually this was stunning to me.

Watch this Homosexuality does not send you to hell You know how

I know that because heterosexuality does not send you to heaven Homosexuality does not send people to hell.

How do I know that because heterosexuality doesn't send people to heaven that is one of the most logically fallacious and theologically

Inept statements I have ever heard in my life that that when I heard both greer and linton

Say that I could hardly believe What I was hearing now, let me break this down a little bit

A person is not lost because he is a homosexual He's a homosexual because he is lost

Okay And so I share the gospel the same way with a homosexual that I share the gospel with anyone

I just share the gospel and I get that person to understand that he's a liar.

He's a thief He's a blasphemer. He's adulterate heart. He's an idolater. He's got all these other sins and I share the gospel the same way because The gospel is the power of god unto salvation for everyone who believes for the jew first and also to the greek to say that homosexuality

Will not send you to hell because heterosexuality will not send you to heaven is

Is careless and sloppy at best now what I mean by that is this if If a person if a person's only sin

Was being a homosexual if that's the only other sin that that person had ever committed

Which is an absurdity and never would never happen, but let's just for kicks and giggles If let's say a person whose only sin that he or she has ever committed his entire life is being a homosexual that Sin would absolutely condemn that person to hell

But here's the thing Is that every single homosexual is also? What you and I are every single homosexual is also a liar is also a thief

Has also taken god's name in vain and word indeed is a blasphemer. They are adulterers at heart at least

So they have committed all these other sins. So when i'm witnessing to a homosexual, I don't have to drill down on homosexuality

I give that person the gospel and if if god calls that person Salvificly to himself then that person will be delivered from the sin of homosexuality

To say that and draw an equivalency And say that you know how I know that because heterosexuality will not send you to heaven

That is a mind -numbingly Dumb theologically speaking thing to say

Heterosexuality is not inherently sinful That's god's design

Okay, it's not inherently sinful For a man to be attracted to a woman or for a woman to be attracted

To a man or let's just say generally speaking men to women and women to men. That's not inherently sinful

That's god's design if men were not attracted to women and women were not attracted to men Nobody would ever get married and there wouldn't be any way to Repopulate the earth once you know generations die out so That's god's design heterosexuality is good.

That's god's design Homosexuality is not good. That's not god's design

Adam and eve were attracted to one another before the fall heterosexual good

Homosexuality came in after the fall that is an innately Disordered and sinful inherently sinful desire so to to somehow draw an equivalency between these two things and make that analogy that is just Honestly, I could not believe that that anyone who would say that would

That these men are pastors much less presidents of the SPC but that just laid the groundwork for this

Jen, wilkin who's one of our favorite bible teachers here and who's actually leading our women's conference She said she said we ought to whisper about what the bible whispers about And we ought to shout about what it shouts about and the bible appears more to whisper when it comes to sexual sin

Compared to its shouts about materialism and religious pride in the bible sexual sin is whispered

Compared to the shout god makes about greed and judgmentalism So let me get this straight.

They've spent all this time telling us how yes homosexuality is a sin But it's no worse than any other sin, you know, all sins are the same but the bible apparently just whispers about sexual sin when it shouts about materialism and pride and greed

Am I getting that about right? So all sins are equal no sins worse than the other but the bible shouts

About materialism pride and greed. So which is it? Are they all equal? They're all the same or are materialism pride and greed taken more seriously

By god in his word than the other sins. You can't have it both ways logically. That is just an absolutely untenable position but the very notion that a pastor

Would even entertain the idea that the bible and god obviously whispers about sexual sin

That is absolutely gobsmacking to me Let's take a quick stroll through just a few of these verses colossians 3 5 through 6

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which is idolatry

Sexual immorality and greed listed in the exact same verse so I guess the bible whispers about Sexual immorality, but it shouts about greed even though they're in this literally in the same breath

On account of these things the wrath of god is coming upon the sons of disobedience

Doesn't sound like a whisper to me romans 13 13 Let us walk properly as in the day not in carousing and drunkenness not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality not in strife and jealousy first timothy 1 9 through 10

Knowing this that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious

For the ungodly and sinners for the unholy and godless for those who kill their fathers or mothers for murderers for sexually immoral persons for homosexuals

For kidnappers for liars for perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching

First corinthians 6 9 through 10 or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived

Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals

Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god

Does that sound like a whisper to you? It doesn't sound like a whisper to me either ask david

If god whispers about sexual sin read psalm chapter 51 Read that read his lament and ask yourself.

Would david think that god whispers? About sexual sin ask the residents of sodom and gomorrah if god whispers about sexual sin specifically homosexual sin ask those folks

As god rained down fire and brimstone and destroyed those cities because of homosexuality ask them

If you think that was like a whisper absolutely Unbelievable to me that a pastor would

Even entertain such a notion that the bible whispers about sexual sin read proverbs chapter 5

Take a stroll through proverbs chapter 5 take a stroll through proverbs chapter 6 And see if you think that sounds like a whisper.

In fact I want to read I want to read this to you proverbs chapter 6. Let's look at verses 27 through 29 and then 32 through 33

Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife whoever touches her will not go unpunished

The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense He who would destroy himself does it

Wounds and disgrace he will find and his reproach will not be blotted out

Does that sound like a whisper? If you want to destroy yourself

Commit sexual sin and you will be on the fast track to self -destruction

Wounds and disgrace you will find And your reproach will not be blotted out

Now is that saying that if you commit sexual sin that there is no forgiveness for you and you're just condemned to an eternity in hell

No Sexual sin can be forgiven just as any other sin can be forgiven god expends no more anthropomorphic energy

To forgive someone of sexual sin than he does to forgive someone from for being a murderer

Okay, so that's not the point. The point though is this what? What proverb 6 is saying?

Your reproach will not be blotted out. There is something about sexual sin

That is different Than all the other sins. In fact Paul speaks to this in first corinthians chapter 6 verse 18 first corinthians 6 18 flee sexual immorality

Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body

Paul says to flee this sin Don't play with it. Don't dabble it with it.

Don't Keep it at arm's length. Don't entertain it in any way flee from it flee

Why because sexual sin is committed inside the body unlike other sins that are committed externally to the body sexual sin

Is internal and even though you can be forgiven of it judicially through the merits of jesus christ

It will leave a stain it will leave a reproach that will never be fully blotted out

Passage of time over years. Yes Those those stains can be lessened.

But you know what? There's always going to be a wound There's always going to be a scar because sexual sin is committed inside the body

And even though we can be forgiven of that judicially speaking forgiven of that through christ completely and totally

There's going to leave a there's going to be a wound. There's going to be a scar there that will never fully go away

When I was um, of course I was born with cerebral palsy. I've had a number of operations

And the first operations that I had I had as a toddler. I was two two and a half years old

Down on my legs and uh, you know what? I am 48 years old now and I can look down on my legs and I can still see those

Scars from those operations that I had when I was a toddler They're faded

They're they're not nearly as big and nearly as bright as they used to be But there's still a wound.

There's still a scar there And in much the same way when you sin sexually it's going to leave a wound even though Judicially completely forgiven.

It's going to leave a wound flee flee sexual immorality it is mind -boggling to me that a pastor could

Could possibly say that the bible just whispers about sexual sin I mean these these men are pastors have have they not counseled?

Husbands and wives who have sinned against each other in that way and it has destroyed their marriages

How many homes have been wrecked? By sexual sin how many how many children have seen their parents divorce because of sexual sin and Apparently the bible just whispers about it.

It's unbelievable to me And ed linton preached his sermon a full year

After jd. Greer preached his he had a whole year To think about this and when jd.

Greer first preached his sermon it caused quite the dust up rightfully So and uh men like tom askell and josh bice and tom buck and others rightfully

So made an issue out of this they should have they were right to do it And so a full year later ed linton

Preaches it again. It's just Unbelievable to me. I'm sorry. I keep I just find myself absolutely incredulous

That this could happen. In fact ed linton sermon that he preached back in 2020

Has been up on his youtube channel for a year and a half Until he finally took it down just a couple of days ago because all this controversy about the plagiarism

That's the only reason it was taken down every you know I as my mind just swims when

I think about this And I think I put myself in the in the shoes of someone who is there In the pew or in the stadium seating or whatever.

They got in their church And they're they're listening to their pastor ed linton say that the bible and god whispers about sexual sin if I had been there

It would have been all I could have done to stay in my seat When I heard that I mean every person who had been saved more than about 15 minutes in that church should have been lined up outside of his office door

Saying what did you mean by that? What what are you talking about? Unbelievable.

I'm just just absolutely unbelievable friends the bible whispers about No sin

The bible whispers about no sin The bible does not whisper about sexual immorality.

It does not whisper about lying. It does not whisper about Stealing it whispers about no sin it's just unreal to me and that is a

Sad state of affairs. It is a sad commentary on the on the spiritual health of the sbc

That this could go unchallenged for so long and these two men who are pastors and indeed current president and immediately, you know preceding former president of the sbc could

Could teach such things Just unreal dear ones The bible whispers about no sin

Okay, dear ones. I want to conclude this video just by presenting the gospel The bad news is that you are a sinner and god's wrath burns against your sin

All of us have sinned The bible says thou shalt not lie Each and every one of us has told lies thou shalt not steal if you have ever taken anything that does not belong to you

You are a thief thou shalt not commit adultery But jesus says if you look at a woman with lust you've committed adultery already in your heart if you have ever looked

At another person with lust then you are an adulterer And all of us have broken god's laws

Thousands of times throughout the courses of our lives. We have Blasphemed the name of god.

We have taken his name in vain in word and deed We have broken his laws thousands of times

And just like when we break laws here on earth, there's a penalty to be paid How much more so when we break the laws of god?

But because we have sinned against god who is eternal The punishment of that sin is also eternal

And if we die in our sins We will very rightly and very justly go to a very real place

That the bible calls hell Where the worm will not die The fire will not be quenched there will be wailing weeping gnashing of teeth

People in hell will be tormented day and night forever and ever the full Undiluted fury of god's wrath will be poured out

On the ungodly for all of eternity and there will be no rest That's the bad news

That's what you deserve. That's what I deserve. That's what our sins have earned us And there's even more bad news

We cannot save ourselves There's nothing that we can do to save ourselves our works profit us

Nothing the prophet isaiah in the old testament says that our works are as filthy rags Before a thrice holy god there is there is nothing that we can do to earn our favor with god

There's nothing we can do to earn our place Into heaven so we are sinners deserving of the full wrath of god and there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves.

That's very very bad news but There is good news

And the good news of the gospel is this Is that god has made a way For you to escape his wrath

God sent his son jesus christ to this earth and jesus lived a perfect life fully god fully man jesus was

Pre -eternal pre -existent co -eternal with the father from eternity past jesus was not created

That's that's what the cults believe. He was not created but jesus The son of god came to this earth and took on a human nature

And so when jesus was on this earth, he was he was one person with two natures the god man

And jesus lived a perfect life On this earth. He never broke any of god's laws.

He was the lamb without blemish And jesus willingly laid down his life on the cross.

His life was not taken He gave it in this perfect person

Offered his perfect life as a perfect sacrifice To perfectly satisfy the perfect wrath of god

And Jesus died on the cross satisfying god's wrath And then three days later

Bodily raised from the dead proving himself to be who he said he was god in human flesh And the only way to be saved the only way to have the wrath of god removed is to repent of sin turn from sin

And place your trust in what jesus christ Did on the cross

And I want to say something about repentance Because a lot of people think a lot of church people think oh repent just means to change your mind

That's what the greek word metanoia word for repent metanoia means and yes, it does mean the word in its etymology does mean just to change your mind, but Biblical repentance is far more than that The word may mean to change your mind, but biblical repentance

Comes when god grants it you see genuine repentance is not something That you and I can do on our own.

We can't do it because we're dead in trespasses and sins Genuine repentance comes when god grants repentance and when god grants repentance to us

Yes, our minds are changed. But everything about us has changed Our desires are changed

Our affections are changed why because our heart Has been changed the bible talks about how before we come to christ.

We're dead in trespasses and sins. We have a heart of stone But when we come to christ, he takes that heart of stone out and replaces it with a heart of flesh

We've been made alive in christ And one of the surest ways to know if you have truly repented of your sin

Is to examine yourself as paul says to do in second corinthians 13 and See if you have either a worldly sorrow

Or a godly sorrow over sin the bible speaks of both of these in second corinthians chapter 7 and let me help you understand

What that means because the difference between a worldly sorrow and a godly sorrow over sin is literally the difference between heaven and hell

A worldly sorrow paul says the apostle paul says in second corinthians 7 leads to death eternal death

A godly sorrow leads to repentance unto salvation So what's the difference a worldly sorrow is nothing more than a guilty conscience a worldly sorrow over sin

Says this What would happen to me? If my sin were exposed what would be the consequences to me?

And so we try to cover up our sin Not because we grieve over our sin, but because we don't want the consequences of our sin

What would happen to me If my sin were exposed Whatever that sin is what would happen to me?

What would be the consequences to me? And so we try to cover up our sin Not because we grieve over it, but because we don't want the consequences of it so whether it's lying whether it's stealing whether it's plagiarizing whether it's

What we look at on the computer when no one's around looking We don't grieve over that we try to cover it up and so If you just want to cover up your sin

Because you don't want the consequences of it. That's a worldly sorrow and paul says a worldly sorrow leads to death a worldly sorrow is when we

If we could get away with our sin, you see if nobody would know about it if nobody would know what we're doing on the side if nobody would know what we're looking at on the computer on the

TV or whatever if nobody would know what i'm doing, you know out when I Tell my wife i'm going to you know

Go fishing with the fellas, but i'm really going somewhere else if nobody would know about these things If we could get away with it, you see

We would run right back to it That is a telltale sign of a worldly sorrow that leads to death

But there's another kind of sorrow over sin and that is a godly sorrow A godly sorrow over sin comes when we grieve over our sin

We grieve over our sin because we understand our sin grieves God and we do not want to grieve him.

He has been so good so kind So generous so patient with us

And yet we sin against him and that grieves us a godly sorrow Is that sorrow that is vertically oriented?

a godly sorrow is that Sorrow that david had I mentioned a little while ago in this video The sorrow that david had in psalm chapter 51 when he cried out

To god he said against you and you alone Oh lord. Oh yahweh. Have I sinned my sin is ever before me

We grieve over our sin that is a godly sorrow and a godly sorrow leads to repentance unto salvation

It is good and it is right To warn people to flee from the wrath to come it's good and it's right to warn people to flee from hell

But just as much as we should want a savior from hell We should want a savior from sin

A lot of people out there want a savior from hell They want to get out of hell free card because their their their conscience convicts them and deep down They know that that's what they deserve.

And so they want to get out of that There's a lot of people who want that but there's not nearly as many people who want a savior from sin

If you want a savior from hell, but not a savior from sin Then dear friend you have a savior from neither

Just as much as we should want a savior from hell, we should want a savior from our sin And this is not to say that a christian cannot sin

Christians can and do sin, but here's the thing christians stumble into sin

Christians don't swim in it If you're a christian if you're a new creature in christ Then you have a new heart with new affections and new desires and yeah, you may stumble into sin

But you don't relish it. You don't look for opportunities to sin. You don't plan your sin out.

You don't When you sin it grieves you Does your sin grieve you?

Do you have that godly sorrow over sin? Do you have a desire? To read and study scripture.

Do you have a love for christ? Do you have a love for his word? Do you do you desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of the lord?

Jesus christ? Like the apostle peter says do you do you desire fellowship with the saints fellowship with other christians?

Do you have a love for the brethren? These are all fruits in keeping with repentance And so if you're not sure of where you are in your relationship

With jesus christ, I would encourage you to get real honest before him confess your sins to him

Ask him to forgive you Ask him to grant you forgiveness Repentance from your sin and if you come to christ in a true godly sorrow over sin

I promise you He will save you He will take out that heart of stone

Put in that heart of flesh You will pass from death to life You will be made alive in christ.

You will be a new creature in christ All things have passed away. All things will be made new

He will not cast you aside Come to christ Turn from sin repent of sin and place your trust in him and that is the good news of the gospel

And jesus is our reward he is our reward he is who makes heaven heaven

And maybe You're watching this and you are In some kind of sexual sin, maybe you're watching this and maybe maybe you're homosexual because you heard something about this video and Homosexuality was discussed.

And so you're watching this video out of curiosity to see See what I had to say about it if you're watching this and and you're a homosexual.

Can I say to you? That god can save you just as much and just As quickly as he can save anyone else

I've already read first corinthians chapter 6 9 through 11 that talks about homosexuals

And how they will not inherit the kingdom of god But neither will drunkards or revilers or swindlers or the covetous.

They won't inherit the kingdom of god either but paul says something just marvelous

In the very next in verse 11 paul says after he lists all of these Horrific sins in verse 11.

He says this and it's so beautiful. He says but such Were some of you you were those things

But you're not anymore You were a reviler, but you're not anymore. You were a drunkard, but you're not anymore

You you were a fornicator, but you're not anymore. You were a homosexual, but you're not anymore

You were those things But you've been made a new creature in christ

I don't care who you are. I don't care what you've done If you will come to christ in a godly sorrow over sin, he will save you

You'll be adopted into the family of god through the merits of the lord. Jesus christ

And if that is you if you have heard this gospel and it resonates with you

Trust christ come to him He'll save you And what you need to do now is you need to find a good church and Most churches out there aren't really churches seek out a church

That that does now if you're new to all this you might want to look this word up but seek out a church that does

Does expository preaching that's preaching the word of god verse by verse it is committed

To the text of scripture and expository preaching simply means exposing the meaning of the text

That's what you're looking for in a preacher a preacher a man who gets up and studies his own sermons writes his own sermons

Spends his own time studying god's word and gets up in the pulpit and he exposes The meaning of god's word to the people listening seek out a church that does that seek out a church that is led

By what the bible calls a plurality of elders uh seek out a church that does

What is described in matthew chapter 18 this church discipline and and I know for those of you who are watching

They're new to this. These are new terms, but um I've got resources on my website.

Uh, there's other websites that have good resources that can help you understand what these terms are but But google them and and you'll want to seek out a church that has these things so, um

You need to you need the fellowship of the saints you need to be in a good bible believing bible teaching church bible practicing church

Where you can be led you can be fed the word of god. You can be shepherded by biblically qualified men and then uh, you will

You will have everything you need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the lord. Jesus christ So, uh,

I know this has been a bit of a long video and bit of a long gospel presentation, but you know what? Sheep want to be fed.

And so I just put out the The call of the shepherd jesus and if you're if you're one of his lost sheep

This will resonate with you and I hope and pray that it does so Thank you very much for watching this um, dear ones, thank you much and Uh until our next time together