Contrary To Nature

Lord Jesus again, we have come to open up your word to study so that we might rightly

understand it as we continue to understand What you have revealed in your commandments.

Regarding the extent of what it means to not commit adultery.

We ask that we would embrace what your word reveals.

That we would apply it to our lives and as your word says glorify God with our bodies all of this we

ask through our crucified and risen Savior who has washed away the filth of all of our sin and has made our

Robes white in the blood of Christ.

We ask in Jesus name.

Amen.

All right, real quick question here.

I want you to think along with me if you would in the ancient world before Christianity

Started were the ancient civilizations known for their sexual purity

or something different.

You don't

get out much, okay.

Well, this is one of those this is.

One of those things where it lets us say this is a topic that is well covered Pompeii y 'all heard of

Pompeii.

Pompeii was is a town that was literally frozen in time.

Mount Vesuvius blew its top a pyroclastic flow came down and Literally

covered Pompeii and it wasn't until recently kind of recently in human history that

they rediscovered Pompeii.

They've excavated the site gotten rid of all the ash and guess what was on the wallpaper.

Not so nice things.

Stuff that is not safe for work is the best way I can put it.

So that Romans were not known for their sexual purity.

How about the ancient Greeks?

No ancient civilizations.

They're not known for this.

Right.

Just read a Greek comedy now in our Bibles.

We have we have two letters that are written to a church in Corinth if they are first and second Corinthians.

We're gonna do a little bit of geographic study here.

Corinth is right here in the middle this is the isthmus of Corinth right there and it separates the

Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea and in the ancient world the idea of actually cutting

across This and cutting off a large loop would be an important thing kind of like when people want to

circumnavigate the globe.

It's good to go through the Panama Canal then go under South America.

Same thing by the way in the Mediterranean and I'm going to show you this as we zoom in

present -day Greece in Corinth.

There is a waterway.

That is a canal the Corinthian canal it was actually

begun by the Emperor Nero wasn't finished by him.

But it was begun by Nero but prior to that canal being finished the way that they

would Make this shut the shortcut between the two seas was that the state they would

sail a ship right up into the port.

They would take it out of the water and they had a causeway that you know with kind of logs as rollers where

they would literally take these ships and Drag them across the isthmus now this didn't happen quickly.

It would take a few days for that to happen and I don't know if you've noticed this there's lore about sailors

and their morality.

Sailors and the language they use our sailors.

We're gonna say are salty folks.

Yes, they are salty now I have a I'm going somewhere with this but I want to show you one of the

features in Corinth.

Does anyone know what what that is?

You know what that is.

That's a mountain.

That's called the Acre Corinth in the ancient world in the ancient world.

There was a complex at the top of the Acre Corinth and it was a temple to Aphrodite.

And so the sailors while they were in port for a couple of days waiting for their ship to cross the

isthmus.

They would go and have a religious experience at the Temple of Aphrodite.

Which involved temple prostitution?

Which wasn't limited to male females.

It was males and females quite the mess.

Now I want you to consider something when the gospel breaks out and People

are brought to penitent faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and

They have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

Do you see a rise or a dramatic decrease in sexual immorality?

Huge decrease.

Huge and I want you to consider this.

Rome was known for its sexual debauchery.

I mean off the charts.

It's legendary again see Pompeii for details if you don't want to see the

details.

That's probably even better.

Give.

Like well, they call prostitution the world's oldest profession.

Prostitution still around to this day, but currently in our society.

It's still Illegal, it's still under the mat if you would

the Rome it was brothels everywhere and.

You know, it's just a mess.

But I want you to consider this is that we're gonna look in Scripture and we're gonna look at the fact that sexual immorality.

At least open rampant sexual immorality and there's a phase that follows that

According to Romans chapter 1 is an actual visible manifestation of the wrath of

God.

Once you consider that so as Christianity spreads open sexual immorality tanks.

You go into the medieval ages you go into the Renaissance you go into the time of the Reformation.

Divorce is difficult to get rightfully.

So sexual immorality people can actually go to prison or.

Die.

For committing adultery or homosexual acts and in the 1960s all of that

comes undone the rebellion against all of these sexual laws.

Where do these laws come from from?

Societies that were heavily impacted by the morals of Scripture

by the law of God in Scripture and as Christianity has had less and less influence.

Because people are not preaching the gospel.

They're preaching nonsense as Christianity has had less and less influence.

Pagans have gone from the minority to the majority and Pagans want to do what pagans want to do

because they're pagans.

And we're gonna see that there's an actual Slope that we're on and I want to show you this turn with me to

the Romans chapter 1.

Romans chapter 1.

We're gonna start in.

Verse.

16 because it's fun to start with the gospel here, but I want to read something from Ephesians chapter 3.

You don't have to turn there.

I'll just read it for you.

Note this regarding Christians.

Ephesians 5 1 says be imitators of God as beloved children because you are that

in Christ.

Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you

as is proper among the Saints.

So, you know the standard for Christianity for churches is that sexual immorality is not something that's named among us.

It's not something we do.

Now granted we're all guilty of breaking these commandments and there is forgiveness for us.

But recognizing that it is sin that we repent and are forgiven and bear fruit in keeping with

repentance and as 1st Corinthians says honoring God with our bodies sexually that

makes it so that within the Christian Church sexual immorality is Not something that

is part of our everyday experience as Christians.

It's a rarity if you would and that's it.

That's the idea.

But take a look now at Romans 1 and I want you to see this progression verse 16.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first also to the Greek.

For in it in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written.

The righteous shall live by faith so that you don't think for a second that our sanctification is

Because of our self -righteousness or our right standing before God is because of our progress in sanctification

that's ruled out.

It's the gospel.

It's the good news that Christ has bled and died for us that he is crucified.

Buried raised again on the third day for our sins and for our justification.

That is what saves us and gives us a right standing before God and now clothed in the righteousness of God.

We then want to reflect the nature of God and be imitators of God and God is not

somebody who condones sexual immorality.

But instead has made our bodies for specific purposes and we remember what we read last week that our

bodies do not belong to us.

They belong to Christ.

You are not your own so your Master your God

your Savior says no, and He has a right to say no because he's

bought you you belong to him.

I sit there and go.

But there's no but Now I want you to watch the progression here and we'll do a little bit of

an excursus on this topic in our day we as Christians and

We as pastors I'll speak as pastors.

There's a lot of pressure being put on us by society to tell us to tow the

line regarding same -sex marriage and.

And unfortunately a lot of that pressure is coming now from within the visible church and we're going to take a look

extensively at what scripture does reveal regarding same -sex passions same

-sex intercourse.

This is you know, it will keep it PG, but we're gonna see what scripture says on this and we'll debunk some of

the false rhetoric that's being used to somehow justify the church recognizing and

Blessing same -sex marriages.

You can't do that, but we're gonna start by noting what scripture reveals Romans 1 18 now.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Against all ungodliness.

So here's your thesis sentence for this portion of Paul's argument which he begins here.

The wrath of God is revealed now.

If you listen to the wingnuts, you know who claim to be prophets and they have their own YouTube channels and stuff like that.

They're always trying to interpret weather events and natural disasters and stuff like that to say that's the visible

hand of God proving the wrath of God.

I Understand the move that's the wrong place to look.

Romans actually tells us the place to look you want to know those societies that are under the

wrath of God.

There's a manifestation that you can look for and I'm gonna make it make a point and it begins with sexual

immorality.

Being out in the open and it progresses to way worse than that and we'll talk about what the way worse is and you'll kind

Of understand where we are in this process.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their

unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Yeah, that's what we do by nature.

What can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes.

Namely his eternal power.

Divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so that they are without

Excuse for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise they became fools and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images.

Resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

So you're gonna know.

That.

Humanity made in God's image Thinks himself wise became a fool

rejected the true God who is and exchanged the real God the glorious God the one who is

for the gods of their own making and Back in the ancient world.

I like to say it this way idolaters were hardy fellows.

They would actually go out and Chop a tree down or hack a stone out and carve it into an

idol and then bow down to it.

Today's Idolaters are really lazy.

They just invent a god in their head and don't even bother making You know an image of it anymore and

they always end up naming their false God Jesus.

It's weird how that works, but their idolaters nonetheless.

So because they've done this therefore God Gave them

up in the lust of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies

among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

and Worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.

Remember the thesis statement is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness

and How is that wrath manifested God going full Burger King on them and giving it to them

their way fine.

You want to continue you want to dishonor me you want to don't want to believe in me You don't want to trust in me.

You're gonna exchange the truth of me for a lie an idol of your own making fine.

I'm going to turn you over.

To sin.

For the dishonoring of your bodies, so you'll notice the Holy Spirit.

Within the believer convicts us of sin and unbelief when a Christian sins.

Sexually do they feel guilt?

Yeah, the Holy Spirit is going.

What are you doing?

That is sin.

You have transgressed my holy law.

Christians have a tough time living with themselves with the Holy Spirit screaming inside of them.

You can't do that.

You should not do that.

Does the pagan have the Holy Spirit telling them that?

They have the law of God written in their heart, but they're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness and finally God says fine.

You gonna you don't want to believe in me.

You don't want to trust in me.

You want to be a fool.

The fool is the one who says in his heart.

There's no God.

I'm gonna turn you over now to your sin for the dishonoring of your body.

He's he's given them over.

He doesn't give up, but he has given them over and so you're gonna note.

This is describing a slope and it's that you can call a slippery slope.

But in this case God's the one who basically says that without me.

This is where you're gonna end up and so God takes his hand off and where do they end up?

No, it's not God's fault.

It's like telling a kid don't put the fork in the electrical socket and The kid

goes and grabs the fork and sticks it in the electrical socket and now their hair is like this for a week.

It's not the parents fault.

So God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity to dishonoring of the bodies among themselves.

Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.

They worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.

And for this reason watch God continues to give them up.

God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

Important note here.

What does this phrase dishonorable passion mean?

Let's continue the passage and then we'll come back to it.

But I want you to pay attention.

We're gonna drill into that that phrase for their women exchange natural relations for those that are

contrary to nature and the men.

Likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another

men committing shameless acts with men and Receiving in themselves the due penalty

for their error.

What's being described there?

Homosexuality note it meant it mentions two types female on female male on male

and you're going to note that God is the one who gives them up to these.

Dishonorable.

Passions.

And I think it's important for us to take a look at what this what a dishonorable passion is.

Consumed with passion tay or ed say let me pull this up in my here's the Greek word.

It's the one in red or reds this and here's what it means a condition of

strong desire.

Longing desire.

It's a passion.

It's a lust.

Consider the implications.

What are people saying about why we need to recognize and bless same -sex marriage answer?

It's real simple.

We shouldn't condemn two people who? love each other.

Huh.

No, it's love.

No, it's not love.

Scripture makes this clear.

This isn't love.

This is or rates this this is a sinful passion.

You see people justify it because I have these Feelings for this

person.

How many times have we heard or know of somebody who's having an affair?

Because they say this person's my soul mate.

Yeah.

Okay.

Interesting.

Let's consider it a win for the truth of God.

Yeah, Josh.

Yeah good.

One thing I find interesting about their line of argumentation is that when you push them on the religious side of things and you

have the pastors to back it up, they'll just simply revert to, well, it's between two consenting adults, so you

can't judge or you can't condemn it.

Is this is this a biblical category or some kind of a legal precedent?

It's, what they do is that when they can't win on the biblical category, they revert to the legal precedent.

Yeah, and see this is where we have to keep the two kingdoms separate currently American jurisprudence says

that the only illegal sexual intercourse is those is that type of intercourse

that occurs when one person is not consenting and Currently the law is to find consenting in

a narrow way that would exclude a minor child to be able to consent.

But they're trying to undo that so that's something to keep in mind.

But that is not what was but in so in the left -hand kingdom you can talk about this and say this is

something worth as Christians working to fix.

Because the purpose of the government is to punish the evildoer not to support them.

But as Christians in the right -hand kingdom, remember we're proclaiming the gospel which requires us to preach

law gospel sin grace.

Our message to those who are caught up in these kinds of sins is Not merely and listen to what I'm

saying.

It is not merely God condemns this.

This is a sin.

You're sinning.

You need to repent.

Our message continues with and Christ has bled and died for those sins and He's offering

you full forgiveness and pardon and a right standing before God.

So repent be forgiven and reconciled to God that that's our message now.

Marilyn had her hand up.

Oh

It's just as bad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Remember thou shall not commit adultery assumes heterosexual Things so

don't think for a second that if you have you know a fellow over here Who's given into the sin of homosexuality

and a fellow over here? Who's been sleeping with his secretary that somehow the guy sleeping with his secretary is less

sexually immoral than this guy over here.

They're both sexually immoral.

And if you really want to nail this down the guy who's never physically cheated on his wife Who's looking at porn

is the same as both of those?

Let's be blunt.

So I mean that's what we're talking about here.

We're not trying to pick one sin out and drive that one and say this is the one thing that it's just Reprehensible

and over -the -top instead what we're trying to do is preach God's law in all of its all of its

Splendor which then makes us all see that we're all sinners and That's phase

one for hearing the good news that Christ has bled and died for our sins.

We actually have good news to preach to people not merely bad news.

But you have to preach the bad news so the good news makes sense.

Right.

Here's the thing the person who is a slave to sin of any kind Has already been turned over to because

sin is their slave master.

They have to be set free by Christ from that so in one sense when you're talking about slavery and the

domination of sin Anybody who's not a Christian is dominated by sin even if they're they're

living morally upstanding lives.

You know you think in our society, you know back the World War two generation not all of them were

Christians.

Not all of them were Christians, and you had a lot of people who?

Civically were upstanding citizens.

They were faithful to their spouse.

They raised their children paid their taxes helped out at the Rotary Club.

Civically they were decent people.

And they weren't you know given over to a debasing Immorality out

in the open if they may.

Since you know quietly secretly in their closet or something.

But they kept it under wraps and at least put on the facade of but they're still under the dominion of sin

even that person is under the dominion of sin just not in this particular way and it takes

Christ and the Word of God to set them free from that and Transfer them from the dominion of darkness

into the kingdom of light.

And there was a one theologian years of decades ago decades ago.

Who actually pointed out if Satan really truly were to take over a society in the truest sense

it wouldn't be a Society where there would be super rank immorality, but it would

be kind of like the Stepford Wives.

It would be the white picket fences and everyone would say hello, and yes, sir.

No, sir, but nobody believed in Jesus.

I think the devil has a little bit more order than we do.

Because he doesn't have a sinful flesh quite like we have but that's a different story altogether.

But yeah, I think the idea then here is when we're talking about now a society as a whole in our

lifetimes.

You know except for maybe some of the younger kids here in our lifetimes that you know.

We watched our society go from a majority Christian nation to a minority

Christian nation and we've seen the ever increasing rise and the constant

push for more and more Toleration and acceptance

of blatantly sinful behavior.

You know and it just seems like there's no end to it.

No it starts with you know accepting same -sex marriage now we have to believe that a guy who self

identifies as a woman as a woman and.

And the pedophiles are working hard to get the minor

consent laws changed so that they can have Relations with young children it just

never seems to stop.

Yeah.

Experimenting for hundreds and hundreds of years to try to see what they get away with just trying to see.

Right what we're seeing now in the schools is.

Yeah going to going to a restaurant in a movie and right.

No.

But what we're seeing in the school what we're seeing at

Activities what we're seeing it is being put out on Facebook and was being put out on

Instagram and all this stuff is.

Them.

Experimenting and dating

same -sex.

Putting it out there on Instagram all this stuff that they how they

date each other and.

It's okay.

If it's acceptable with our youth.

Because everybody's doing it everybody's talking about it, it's okay.

Mm -hmm.

You you were on the cutting edge though that was cutting edge at a time.

Not only is it okay, it's wrong to speak out against it.

I have to ask.

When my wife and I were dating in high school We got in trouble for being too close to each other during the lunch

hour.

We were reprimanded for a PDA.

Public display display of affection.

You don't do that.

Young person for six months before I realized it was a girl.

We have we have said it's okay for our

Public schools to have their curriculums written by the people who

are of a sense of

Other the the people that belong to these teachers unions.

They are writing this curriculum

Because they have the accreditation from other liberal schools.

Liberal arts schools calls so -called normal schools that gives us credentials

to write this so.

When.

With that.

They do not.

They think it is wrong for anybody to judge another person.

There is no more morals being taught in the schools.

Yeah.

And if you do teach the moral in the school, you're gonna be reprimanded.

And then you're gonna have to fight for your own job there.

Okay.

That we have options for the people that do not want to have their kids going to school

in a public school setting.

Okay.

We should stand up and fight for what we want in our

school systems.

And the people are just like sheep.

They say well, these people are smarter than me.

We're gonna let them teach our kids.

So now when they walk and beat.

The pressure is on.

To hook up.

And which we didn't call it that when we were kids.

That was being promiscuous.

Okay.

Nowadays you're expected to be.

Yeah.

And if you didn't You're laughed at.

And so there's all kinds.

We thought we had peer pressure back when we were kids.

And yes we had it then.

But it's just gotten worse now.

And now you've got peer pressure.

They've taken away the awesomeness.

Or the Innocence.

They've taken away the disgust.

Of.

Same -sex.

Relationships.

And now they're accepting it.

And my gosh if you put anybody down.

You are a hater.

Okay well I've been pointed out.

That I'm a hater in many different ways.

But you know what?

I'm not I'm not a hater.

I know what's right and wrong.

And I try to.

Explain this to people.

You know people label me as a hater.

And.

But if we don't bring this up to the people It is our responsibility As good

churchgoers That we have been hearing the word From the pastor.

And if it wasn't him it would be somebody else.

We're hearing the good word.

It's up to us to go make these waves.

But we're sheep.

We will do that.

We want to make peace all the time.

In the neighborhood.

I do, you do, everybody else does.

We don't want to say get into the neighborhood.

Because we don't want to make big waves.

Speaking the truth will require you.

To not act like a Norwegian.

That's always the ax I'm going to grind on.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

But the situation is actually even worse Than what you were describing Janet.

Because now I'll tell you what the narrative is.

There's people out there That if you ask them if they're a boy or a girl They'll just say no.

They'll say I'm not a binary I'm neither one.

And of course if you say anything against that They'll come after you with the hate speech laws.

Because.

The ridiculousness of this.

They have what we like to call The oppression olympics.

Whereby.

They paint people who are straight Christian men or women.

That are white or whatever.

We are part of Social Marxism is really what it is.

Because what they'll say to us is that we are the oppressors.

And that the people who are Not white, who are not straight.

Who are none of these things.

That you would have normally.

Non -gender conforming.

They're the oppressed minority.

And they need to be protected.

And for coming out and saying I'm gay or I'm non -binary.

That's brave.

That's so brave of you.

To stand up against the bigots.

And the children are actively encouraged.

To oh Do you think that you're.

Oh you're a little boy and you like to play with dolls.

Well let's get you on.

Hormone blockers.

But it's that slope.

It's getting slipperier and slipperier.

Now let's return to the word of God.

Because I think it's important to see The progression that God's word gives.

Now.

Before we had Our little discussion We were talking about the fact That the dishonorable passions themselves

Consumed with passion for one another.

That's not love.

And this is a sinful passion That scripture makes it clear.

Just because you feel something inside of you Does not make it right.

I hate to say this.

Just because you have a feeling Doesn't mean your feeling is right.

Or that it's good.

How dare you judge my feelings.

Or how dare you judge me.

Notice how this game is played.

We have to point out the self -defeating nature of this.

We must point this out.

Let me give you an example.

Over here.

And then we'll apply it over here.

Have you ever heard somebody Dogmatically and emphatically State.

There is no such thing As absolute truth.

The way you flip it around.

Is you note the hypocrisy here.

Because the person who made that statement Is assuming that their statement Is an absolute

truth.

The person who says Don't judge me.

What are they doing.

They're judging you.

You have to do the jujitsu move on them And point out the obvious.

You must do that.

So look for those self -defeating Arguments Where there's a double standard.

Because you're going to note.

The people who are the most vocal About tolerance Are the most

intolerant people When it comes to God's law.

So you've got to note that.

But coming back to the text.

For this reason Because of their idolatry God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

Their women exchanged natural relations.

For those that are contrary to nature.

Men likewise gave up natural relations with women And were consumed with passion

For one another.

Men committing shameless acts.

With men receiving in themselves The due penalty for their error.

It doesn't stop there.

I want you to listen to this next part.

And I want you to think.

Ask yourself this question.

Does this describe The political discourse.

And what's happening in our nation.

Especially on social media.

The next part of it is The part that comes after Homosexuality becomes the big thing.

Watch.

And since they did not see fit To acknowledge God God gave them up to a debased mind To

do what ought not to be done They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness.

Evil.

Covetousness Malice Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness

Gossips, slanders Haters of God Insolent, haughty, boastful Inventors of evil

Disobedient to parents Foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Facebook Twitter No boundaries Do people get along

nowadays?

No.

We're more divided than ever.

Is the rhetoric in our country.

One of let's sit down.

And let's discuss these things out.

And have a rational conversation.

No, not at all.

The discourse in our nation is You're an evil White oppressive bigot

Christian.

You need to have your rights stripped From you.

Or as one very famous woman Says This country is not going to change

Until a lot of white people die Things like that.

And the rhetoric by the way It's terrible on both the right and the left.

Don't think that the right somehow Is as clean as the wind driven snow.

No.

It's bad on both sides And there's no end in sight for this.

Does this sound like our nation?

Alright, come back to our thesis statement.

For the wrath of God is revealed From heaven against all ungodliness And unrighteousness.

Is what's happening to our nation The favor of God or the wrath of God.

According to this text.

Wrath.

As a friend of mine used to say We are in deep kimchi.

He was a Korean war vet.

He liked it, I've tried it, it's not that great.

I get it.

Some people, it really grabs them.

Me, not so much.

I cringe at the thought sometimes Of some of you wandering onto my Facebook wall.

Because there's some When I make statements People come out of the woodwork to

Take me on.

Josh sits there and goes red meat.

At times it can be really awful.

And we end up having to delete comments Because of just how over the top and hateful they are.

But we are in trouble.

We are in trouble.

It's only getting worse.

And the only solution I know That can solve a problem of this magnitude.

And of this type Is the preaching of the gospel.

And I'll make the point.

And I've made it many times.

Where is the Christian church.

You think about many Lutheran churches Who embrace same -sex marriage.

Who affirm and bless Transgenderism.

This is not God's favor.

This is the wrath of God.

These people are idolaters.

They're not speaking the truth.

And then you have whole swaths Of evangelicalism today.

Where they are listening to Teachers who don't teach Anything substantive Within the

scriptures.

They just kind of flit along the surface.

Barely touching any of it Over and again.

One of the feedbacks I get from people who listen to a Kongsvinger

sermon for the first time.

They'll say they get more Bible In one Kongsvinger sermon Than they hear in a year.

At many of the big box churches.

And that's not hyperbole.

That's not hyperbole.

I totally just rip off that Bible stuff.

I'm telling you I got good material.

God makes me really look smarter than I am.

And then you have a large portion Of the visible church That they are all about

signs And wonders and prosperity.

They think Christianity Is about having your best life now.

And you need to hear from God And find out what your dream destiny is.

And God wants you to be wealthy.

He wants you to be healthy.

He wants you to be powerful and influential.

And you're going to change the world.

And so We've got a problem.

And that is there is only one message That can actually change the world.

And that's the good news That Christ has bled and died for our sins.

And we need to repent and be forgiven And reconciled to God.

That is the message.

Because notice the power of God is in the gospel.

The power of God is in the preached word Believe me I have no special powers.

Or abilities.

To change your life I don't.

It is above my pay grade to convict you of your sins.

It is above my pay grade To have you bear the fruit of the Spirit.

I know though that the Spirit Works through the preached word.

And unfortunately there are a lot of people Who are listening to a lot of voices today That are telling them things that are contrary to scripture.

And unfortunately there are people That we have to contend with Who literally are within the visible church Who

are celebrated and applauded And their works are published And far and wide and shared everywhere.

To This is the new Christianity That we need to embrace.

Are you all familiar with Jen Hatmaker at all?

Yeah you know about her.

This is a woman who's got.

She's on reality TV but she claims to be an evangelical Christian.

And she is out there Trying to undo what scripture says And say that

Christians Need to embrace and affirm And celebrate same sex marriage.

And she's an evangelical starlet.

I mean that's where we're at.

And let me give you some of the arguments that people give.

Have you ever heard this one?

Jesus when he was alive on earth He never said anything Against homosexuality.

You ever heard that one?

Well here's the problem.

Jesus.

Is he a mere man?

Who is he?

He's God.

He's God in human flesh.

So he's the son of God in human flesh.

Who inspired the Old Testament to be written?

Yeah God.

And Jesus is that God.

So if we see a prohibition against Homosexuality In the Old Testament Who's the

one speaking?

Christ.

You can make that argument.

Because he's God.

So all of scripture is the word of Christ.

You could literally say the whole bible should be red letters.

You can really make that argument.

And so this group calls themselves red letter Christians.

And they'll say because we don't see any prohibitions Against homosexuality In the red letters.

And those have more weight than the rest.

What have they done?

Remember what we read in Revelation.

Taking away from the book of the prophecy.

They're taking away from it.

Or have you ever heard this argument?

There's only Seven clobber passages In the bible That would appear

to condemn Homosexuality.

And considering the sheer magnitude Of all of the numbers of verses out there.

If there's only seven That's just a small amount.

Why are you putting an over emphasis on Those seven verses And ignoring the rest of the bible?

You ever heard that one?

But when people are trying to justify Their acts They are

finding excuses.

Turn it around to someone.

Right.

So that they can feel good.

Basically what it comes down to Is it's not that they want to feel good.

It's that they refuse to be convicted Of their sin And feel bad or sorrow for it.

That's to make you feel good.

Yeah.

They can just go along their merry way.

Just go along their merry way.

And do their thing.

You can respond Well find me seven that approve of it.

Right now the score is 7 -0.

Yeah.

I mean It sounds like when the twins play the Dodgers.

You know.

Sorry I had to do that.

But the reality is this.

How many verses does it take.

How many clear passages of scripture does it take.

For us to say No scripture actually says that's a sin.

One.

You just need one.

I mean.

How many times does God need to repeat The crossing of the red sea In order for it

to be a real historical event.

Five times.

Do I hear six.

Does anyone hear six.

Give me a seven.

It's ridiculous.

You see what I'm saying here.

Is that God doesn't stutter and he doesn't need to constantly repeat himself.

How many times Does the commandment Thou shalt not steal Get brought up in the

bible.

Literally about the same amount of times As homosexuality is talked about.

Not much more.

So if we were to use that argument and basically say Listen the bible only condemns Stealing

like you know.

Maybe a dozen or so times.

And there's like 60 ,000 verses in the bible.

And you're talking about only seven.

Come on you can't condemn me.

Just because I took your tv from you.

You mamby pamby.

Why don't you just grow up.

You see what I'm saying.

The argument doesn't work.

Alright now that is a more subtle argument.

So here's what they'll say.

Here's the other argument.

So did you know That the old testament Condemns wearing

clothing With mixed fabrics.

I want you to look on that little tag In the back of your shirt.

And does it say cotton and polyester.

You're sinning You're sinning.

See see see see.

And it's just as bad as homosexuality.

That's right that's right.

Wearing spandex is as.

Wait a second hold on.

Wearing a cotton blend shirt Is just as sinful as homosexuality.

That's right according to the bible.

And you sit there and go.

I know there's something wrong with this.

But I don't know quite how to put this together.

Or they'll sit there and say.

Did you know that the bible Condemns the eating of oysters.

Have any of you ever gone to red lobster During their lobster fest.

Oh you sinners are going to hell.

And you're sitting there going.

Man that was the best sin ever.

A little butter and garlic sauce.

I can't wait to sin that way again.

You sit there and go.

Wait a second wait a second.

That has to do with the mosaic covenant.

Dietary laws.

And see what ends up happening.

Is the person who makes that argument Refuses to make proper biblical distinctions.

And we know in the new testament Like when you read the book of Galatians What is the status right

now Of the mosaic covenant.

It's finished.

It's been fulfilled.

Christ has fulfilled the mosaic covenant.

Is the mosaic covenant Still in effect right now.

No it's not.

It is absolutely Not in effect.

And so here's the idea.

Is that you have to make a distinction between your covenants.

And within the mosaic covenant.

You have to recognize That there were three types of law Given in the mosaic covenant.

There was moral law.

Ten commandments.

And parts of Leviticus are commentary.

And an additional drilling down of the details Of parts of the moral law.

There were civil laws That applied only to The nation state of Israel As a

theocracy in the ancient world.

And that had to do with Civil penalties for particular crimes.

And then there were Ceremonial laws.

Ceremonial laws That were part of really The tabernacle Which became

the temple.

And all of that was type and shadow That pointed to Christ.

So the question then Comes up.

The prohibition against wearing mixed fabric.

Moral.

Civil ceremonial.

Which is it?

Civil.

And this is for the theocracy Of ancient Israel.

The law against eating lobster And bacon.

Which by the way those two go really good together.

The laws Against eating bacon and lobster.

Moral.

Civil or ceremonial.

Ceremonial.

And their type and shadow Of sin.

Sin and unbelief.

And things like that.

And as New Testament We're under the new covenant.

We have clear explicit text That say that we're no longer under that.

So they don't apply.

The law that says you must Sacrifice A sheep as a sin offering

On the day of atonement.

Moral, civil, ceremonial.

Which is it?

Ceremonial.

So we don't do that.

The law that says you have to go to Jerusalem once a year For Passover.

Ceremonial.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not kill.

Which is it?

Moral.

And here's the interesting thing When you pay attention to those distinctions You will see that in the New

Testament In the Ten Commandments.

All but one of the Ten Commandments Is picked up in the new covenant And is explicitly taught

As binding on the consciences Of Christians moving forward.

The one that's missing, the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is a ceremonial law In the Ten Commandments Fulfilled in Christ and it's a type and shadow Of salvation

by grace through faith.

So the idea then is this.

Is that all ten of the commandments Technically are binding on Christians.

The Sabbath is fulfilled.

We learn this from Hebrews 4 By trusting in Jesus alone For the forgiveness of your sins.

That's the Sabbath rest.

The Sabbath rest of the Old Testament pointed to our Sabbath rest in Christ Again.

Hebrews 4 bears that out very clearly.

So then the idea is this.

We as Christians we can point to the Back end of epistles And the back end of those epistles over and again.

Will reiterate.

Stuff that we hear in the Ten Commandments About not stealing, about not coveting.

About not having Sexual relations with those whom we ought Not to have sexual relations with.

You get the idea.

And those are all second table.

But then we're also told first table.

Then is fulfilled in Christ By grace through faith.

And so the person who argues Well shellfish in the Old Testament Is an abomination to

God.

And so that means homosexuality is okay.

This is a person who clearly Does not understand the Bible.

Nor are they interested in it.

At all.

Now another argument that you will hear.

Another argument that you will hear.

That sounds like it has some plausibility Behind it.

Is that in two passages in the New Testament There is a word that is used That is unique to the New

Testament.

And the word is Arsenokoitai.

Have you ever heard this argument?

And it's a weird word.

Because if you kind of break it Into its component parts It means man better Or

male better.

And the bed, B -E -D That's referred to has to do with marriage bed.

So people will sit there And say well we're not exactly Sure what the word

Arsenokoitai means.

And so you can't kind of Legalistically say that this is a prohibition Against homosexuality.

And our modern English translations That translate Arsenokoitai As homosexual.

They may or may not really be getting that right.

Have you ever heard this argument?

Let me show you where the phrase comes from.

Let me show you where it appears.

And I'll show you where it comes from.

So you can see what's going on here.

Let me show it to you in its original senses.

In 1 Timothy chapter 1.

1 Timothy chapter 1 Is one of the instances Where this word shows up.

Starting in verse 8.

We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

Understanding this that the law is not laid down For the just but for the lawless.

For the disobedient, for the ungodly.

For the sinners, for the unholy, the profane.

And those who strike their fathers and mothers.

Breaking of the fourth commandment.

For murderers, the sexually immoral Men who, and here's your English translation Men who

practice homosexuality.

But.

The Greek word for describing these men Is the arsenikoi Which again is a

weird word.

It's Practically only appears In the New Testament in the ancient world.

And the question is Where did Paul get this word from?

The male bedder.

B -E -D -D -E -R.

And by bedder we're talking marriage bed.

Where did that phrase come from?

That's one instance.

Hold your thought Dave.

Second one is in 1 Corinthians 6.

And here's where.

The second time this appears.

Technically the first in the New Testament.

Do you not know, verse 9.

That the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral.

Nor idolaters, nor adulterers.

And here's the phrase.

Nor men who practice homosexuality.

And here it describes, there's two words used for Homosexuals.

The malakoi are the effeminate receivers.

We've talked about this.

And then here's your arsenikoi again.

The male bedder.

Where does this Word come from?

I'm going to ask another question.

Does anyone know, in the ancient world.

In the time of the Roman Empire.

If you were not a Hebrew speaking.

Jew.

How would you read the Bible?

There was a translation Of the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek.

The name of that translation Is the Septuagint.

As the story goes There were 70 scholars Who put that together, hence the name of the Septuagint.

And the Septuagint Was the Common Bible Used by Jews in

the time of Paul Who were Greek speaking Or who didn't know Hebrew.

And so when Paul would make his missionary journeys They would read out In the synagogue

From the Septuagint.

Now I want you to take a look With me in English right now.

Let's take a look at Leviticus 18.

Leviticus 18 specifically Verse 22.

I'm going to start in 20 for our context.

And by the way, if you really want to drill down Into all of the gory details About what's prohibited when it comes to

Obeying the commandment that says You shall not commit adultery Leviticus is your place to go.

Drilling down into the prohibitions As they really kind of flesh out.

You shall not lie sexually With your neighbor's wife.

Make yourself unclean with her.

You shall not give any of your children To offer them to Molech.

And so profane the name of your God I am Yahweh.

You shall not lie with a male As with a woman.

It is an abomination.

Now you're going to note something here In the Hebrew way of thinking.

Hebrew mind is not philosophical.

The way the Greeks were Greeks were very abstract.

Hebrew people were very Concrete in their idioms And the way they thought.

And you're going to note what the prohibition is.

The prohibition says you shall not lie with a male As with a woman.

It's an abomination.

You can't do it.

In other words, it doesn't matter what your motivation is.

Whatever's going on in your heart.

Romans 1 makes that clear That that's a sinful passion.

But the mere act of consummating a homosexual relationship Is prohibited.

The act itself Is an abomination to God.

And I want to show you this then From the Septuagint.

So here is the Old Testament Book of Leviticus In Greek.

I know that's Greek to you.

But I want you to I'm going to point this out.

The two key words are Arsenos, which means male Koitain, which

means Marriage bed.

And.

Just a rough translation.

A male shall not lie In the marriage bed with another male As with a

woman.

Arsenos and Koitai are right there In Leviticus 22.

So what Paul did.

Is he literally took Arsenos and Koitai from Leviticus 22 And created a word.

The arsenokoitai.

Or koitai, plural.

And that's where the word comes from.

So in 1 Timothy 1.

And in 1 Corinthians 6 The words used.

The word arsenokoitai That is used is a direct Cross reference To

Leviticus 22 1822.

Direct cross reference.

There's no way around it.

You can see where the language comes from.

All he did was take what's in The Old Testament in Leviticus 1822.

Take it, smoosh it down And put it into one word.

Because you can kind of do that with Greek.

Greek is like Legos.

You can actually build words.

They get kind of silly at times.

But you can do that.

So he built a word, arsenokoitai Straight from Leviticus 1822.

And then that is the language That gets put right there in the New Testament.

And we know exactly what it means.

Because I can point right back to the Septuagint And say it's right there.

Same words, same root words.

Same, you know, in the verse That prohibits the act itself.

Your heads are spinning.

We left off with Greek.

We'll pick this up next week.

Oh, quick question.

We're talking about slippery slope.

New York City votes to find biblical counselors.

If you're a Christian counselor in New York City And you're treating gender dysphoria As a mental illness And you're a Christian

You're going to get fined.