What God Says About Homosexuality

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Well, as I told you a couple of weeks ago, we're going to take a little break today from our study through the Sermon on the Mount. I have been intending for some time to address the issue that is the issue of our times, and that is the issue of homosexuality. It was back in 2003 in the case against the sodomy laws in Texas that 31 pro-homosexual organizations filed a friend of the court brief in support of having those laws struck down. And in their brief before the Supreme Court, these 31 pro-homosexual organizations admitted publicly that only 2.8 percent of men identify themselves as homosexual and 1.8 percent of women. How has such a small percentage of the population gained such a large voice?

I want for a moment for you to think about that with me and I want to give you a brief history just to bring us up to speed before we turn to what the Scriptures have to say. The gay rights movement can be traced back to an event in 1969 to what the homosexual community refers to as the Stonewall Rebellion. New York City police raided a homosexual bar, the Stonewall Inn, and a riot ensued. Several hundred homosexuals fought back against the police and the gay liberation movement was born. In fact, on July 3^rd, 1969, The Village Voice there in New York City reported it this way: "Gay power erected its brazen head and spat out a fairy tale the likes of which the area has never seen. Watch out. The liberation is underway."

In the forty years that have transpired since that defining event, the cultural climate in which we live has changed so dramatically that we have moved from laws against sodomy to laws legalizing same-sex marriage. This radical cultural shift was not an accident. It was instead the result of a brilliant and carefully crafted marketing strategy. That strategy was laid out in part in a book written in 1989 entitled After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 1990's. It was written by two men—Marshall Kirk, who was a neuropsychiatrist (I should say) and Hunter Madsen, a public relations consultant. The book called on homosexuals to repackage their efforts at being accepted, which at least at that point had largely failed to the extent that they are today. Kirk and Madsen wrote this: "Open, frank talk makes gayness seem less furtive, alien and sinful, more above board. Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided on the subject and that a sizable block, the most modern up-to-date citizens, accept or even practice homosexuality. In the early stages of the campaign, the public should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself." They wrote: "Gays should be considered to have been born gay. To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms labeled "Moral Choices and Sin" and give the religious intransigents a stick to beat us with. Straights must be taught that it is as natural for some persons to be homosexual as it is for others to be heterosexual. Wickedness and seduction have nothing to do with it."

Kirk and Madsen advised gays "to use talk to muddy the moral waters." What did they mean by that? Well, they go on to say that: "The homosexual community should muddy the moral waters about homosexuality by, for example, pointing to the support and acceptance of liberal churches, by questioning traditional interpretations of the Scripture, by arguing that Christian teaching on sexuality is characterized by 'inconsistency and hatred.'" The authors refer to conservative churches as "homo-hating" and as "antiquated backwaters badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology." They tell their readers to portray Christians who disagree with them as "hysterical backwoods preachers drooling with hate to a degree that looks both comical and deranged."

Now as you can see, this marketing strategy was brilliant. It has been flawlessly executed and it has worked perfectly. But as we come to today and as we come to what has become the defining issue of our times, as followers of Jesus Christ there is really only one question for us to ask, and that is what does the Bible say? That's always the question. And in reality, when we ask that question we are asking what does God our Creator say about homosexuality? This morning I want to trace chronologically through the Scriptures what God has said about this really defining issue of our times but can we first, before we open the pages of Scripture, determine in our hearts before God that whatever we find here, we will "let God be true and every man a liar."

The Biblical commentary on homosexuality begins before the first homosexual act was ever committed. It begins in Genesis 1 and 2 with the created order, the created order. On the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1:26, we read these words: "Then God said [and in what is really a sort of predisposition or a, a premonition of the Trinity], 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.'" Scripture dramatically distinguishes man from the rest of creation because he alone is made in the image, the likeness of God. Verse 27: "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Now notice when God created the human species, only, the only part of the creation in His image, He made them two sexes—male and female. Both of those share the image of God, but they are different by design.

Now Moses fills out the account of the creation of man down in chapter 2. Look at chapter 2, verse 18. Here we go in a little more in depth: "The Lord God said [on that sixth day after He'd created the land animals and everything else], 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'" Now as you know, seven times in chapter 1 God "saw that it was good." And so it's shocking here to discover for the first time that something is not good. And it's that Adam, whom God has created on that sixth day, doesn't have a partner. He is alone. And God said this isn't good. "And so I will make him a helper [God says I will design a helper for him, and that helper will be] suitable for him." The Hebrew word that's translated "suitable" there literally means "corresponding to" or "exactly corresponding." The intention of that expression is really very similar in meaning to the expression "male and female" back in chapter 1.

Then in verses 22 and 23, Moses describes the first marriage. You have the first poetry ever written. You have the first love poem. Although it doesn't read very much like a love poem to us, it was. Adam was essentially saying, "Wow! Here's someone who perfectly corresponds to me." And you have a description of the first marriage. Now in verse 24 comes Moses' commentary. Moses in verse 24 applies the principle of the first marriage between Adam and Eve to every marriage that will come. Look at verse 24: "For this reason [in light of the fact that God made male, God made female, He brought them together in marriage—for this reason] a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." Now that is a foundational passage. It occurs four times in the Scripture. It's repeated three times after this in Matthew 19; in Mark 10; and in Ephesians 5. Of those four times, one of them is in the Old Testament; three are in the New. It is once before the fall recorded and three times after the fall. That means that verse 24 is God's prescription for marriage in a perfect world and it remains His prescription for marriage in a fallen world. This is the blueprint for marriage the way God designed it to be. Notice one man joined to one woman in a permanent relationship that is superior to all other relationships. The Hebrew word "joined" literally means "to be glued or stuck to." They become one flesh. The idea is that two corresponding parts come together to form a complete whole, both body and soul. And God even fashioned the human bodies of male and female to reflect that design of two people made to correspond to each other in every way coming together in a new relationship, the relationship of marriage.

Now this created order of only male and female is absolutely crucial to this whole matter of homosexuality because in the past, even the homosexual community spoke of the homosexual lifestyle or of sexual preferences. If you're a little older, you've heard those phrases. Those are the ones that used to be used. But in recent years, the wording has changed. As they've worked out their marketing plan, they now refer to homosexuality as sexual orientation. That is a huge change because they shifted the discussion from moral choices and sexual preferences to biological determinism. They essentially created a third category. Not only are there males and females; there are homosexuals and now bisexuals and transgenders.

Now it is true that all of us are born tainted with original sin. And each person is born with a set of propensities toward certain sins. And that may be true of homosexuality but, if so, it is equally true of anger and lying and murder and all other sins. Homosexual is not a created orientation. There is no biological category of homosexual—no one born gay in that sense. Instead, homosexuality describes the temptations, actions and behaviors of those whom God created either male or female. God only created two biological categories in the human species—male and female. And He created one to exactly correspond to the other. That's the created order. And that lays the foundation for the rest of what God has to say about homosexuality throughout the Scripture.

Now that brings us then to the first mention, the first mention of homosexuality. The first passage dealing with homosexuality is very instructive because it's the account of the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Earlier in Genesis, Moses has already laid the stage for what's going to happen. In Genesis 13:13, we read: "The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners before the Lord." In Genesis 18:20, God says to Abraham, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave."

In chapter 19, we learn how their wickedness actually manifested itself. Look at Genesis 19 and verse 1: "Now the two angels came to Sodom"—stop there. In chapter 18, the Lord Himself (probably a preincarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ) and two angels came to Abraham in Hebron, up in the Judean hill country. The Lord stayed with Abraham and, you remember, they had the discussion about whether there were ten righteous people in the city, would God spare it—worked down to ten. But the two angels leave Hebron, leave the Lord and Abraham, and they come down to Sodom, which is down near the end of the Dead (what is today the Dead) Sea. In the evening, they came. And as they came, "Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom." The gate in ancient world is where commerce happened. It's where the markets were. It's where business was done. It's where the city fathers sat, where the judges determined cases. Everything happened in the gate of the city. And Lot is sitting among these people. There's no indication he was actually a leader of the city although that might have been but, based on what we see a little later, that's unlikely. He's simply doing commerce, engaged in the life of the city.

"When Lot sees these two angels, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground." Now at this point, there's no indication Lot understands that they're angels. He simply realizes they're guests. And we begin to see in a moment that he has a specific fear and concern for these men. Verse 2: "He said, 'Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet [it's evening. Come. Let me give you a meal. You can sleep]; and then you can rise early and go on your way.' But they said however, 'No, we'll spend the night in the square.'" They had been sent by God to witness firsthand what God already knew; that is, the wickedness of the city. And here we begin to see that Lot doesn't want that to happen because he knows what very well may happen to them in verse 3: "Yet he urged them strongly [don't spend the night in the square, come back to my house], so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate [a late evening meal]. And before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house [now what follows in verse 4 is Moses' way of making a comprehensive expression], young and old [all different ages], all the people from every quarter [the men of the city were all represented there in mass]; and they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them ["that we may know them" is what the Hebrew says in the same sense that Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bear a son]." They are after sexual relations. All the men of the city essentially became a gang whose intention was to engage in an orgy of homosexual rape. This is why homosexuality, by the way, has also become known as sodomy.

Verse 6—but Lot wants to protect these two men whom he may have begun to suspect are more than men. "He went out to them at the doorway, and he shut the door behind him, and he said, 'Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.'" You can see how Lot has engaged himself in the life of this city. And yet, because he's a righteous man to some extent as the New Testament says, he's wanting to protect these men. But then he does the unthinkable, verse 8: "Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof." Again, it may be that Lot suspected now that they are more than mere men and he feels this huge obligation to protect them. It may be because these daughters were likely engaged to the men who would be his sons-in-law and who were residents of Sodom that he suspected nothing would happen to them, even if he made this offer. We really can't know what was in his mind. Whatever it was, it was sinful and wrong.

Verse 9: "But the men of the city said to Lot, 'Stand aside.' Furthermore, they said, 'This one came in [as a] as an alien [as a sojourner], and already he's acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them [worse than what we had in mind for those men that are with you, we're going to treat you worse].' So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door." Did you notice the response to Lot in verse 9? He is acting like the judge. Let me just tell you that those who are the leaders in the homosexual movement and the agenda that is taking place in our country—they will not rest as long as anyone makes a moral judgment about their practice. And just as they threatened persecution against Lot, it will very likely happen to us. In our case, I think the day is coming when our church will lose, potentially lose its tax exemption for saying homosexuality is a sin. I think we will be written off as bigots and as even guilty of hate speech and perhaps prosecuted of crimes for saying what I'm saying to you today.

Verse 10: "But the men [that is, the angels] reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway." Supernatural blindness—we don't know if it was a black kind of blindness where they couldn't see anything, or whether it was a confused kind of blindness where they couldn't tell where they were or where they were trying to go. Regardless, it was supernatural.

"And then the two men said to Lot, 'Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.'" Verse 23, the next morning: "The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came [to the city where they had told him he'd be protected] to Zoar. And then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone [sulfur and burning asphalt] and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities [literally He turned them on their heads], and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the city, and what grew on the ground."

Now we're not told exactly how this happened. It's possible that it was a divine miracle with no natural explanation whatsoever. God simply opened up the skies and poured out fire and brimstone on these cities. It's also possible that God miraculously intervened in the world He'd made and used natural means. One suggestion is that that area has a high concentration of asphalt and oil and gas. Perhaps there was an earthquake, which that area is also known for, and it allowed some of those flammable elements to escape. And then a fire or lightning ignited all of those fumes causing a massive explosion, sending rock and fire and asphalt into the skies and then raining back down to earth. Between the massive explosion, between the fire fed by the natural elements in that area and the falling debris, everything was destroyed. In fact, it's interesting. I saw this week that several secular authors said that there was still smoke ascending from this region in the first century.

Regardless of how He did it, the text is clear that God did it, and that He did it as an act of divine judgment against the sexual sin of Sodom. Now the people who support the homosexual agenda try to redefine the nature of the sin here. Some of them have argued that the sin for which God destroyed Sodom was the sin of inhospitality. Others argue that it wasn't for consensual homosexual relationships that God destroyed the city, but only for homosexual rape. But, they say, God is okay with consenting, monogamous homosexuality. Well, fortunately the Scriptures don't leave us any wiggle room on this issue because Jude, the half-brother of our Lord, tells us specifically the sins for which the city was destroyed. Jude 7 reads this way: "just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way indulged in gross immorality [that's probably a reference to heterosexual sexual sin] and went after strange flesh [or other flesh—that's homosexual behavior], they are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." Jude says, "Let me tell you why they were destroyed. They were destroyed because they indulged in gross immorality and went after strange or other flesh [homosexual behavior]."

So the Biblical teaching begins very clearly, but the Biblical teaching about homosexuality doesn't stop with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. So thirdly, let's consider the Old Testament Law—the Old Testament Law. The Law of Moses given at Sinai condemns in the strongest possible language a number of sexual activities that deviate from the divine plan recorded in Genesis 1 and 2, and one of those deviations is homosexuality. Turn to Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus 18 and notice verse 22. In this chapter, we have a list of sexual sins that are forbidden among God's people. Verse 22 says: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land [even] has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants." These sins defile the land in such a way that God brings punishment and the land itself wants to vomit out those who are practicing such sins. Now notice in verse 22 that this text destroys the idea that God allows consensual homosexual relationships and only forbids homosexual rape or prostitution. The way it's worded is crystal clear: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female." All homosexual acts are forbidden; in fact, notice, they are "an abomination." The Hebrew word speaks of something that is especially hated, something that is repulsive, that is repugnant to God. It is an abomination.

Turn over to chapter 20, Leviticus 20. And in Leviticus 20, we get to the sentences under the Old Testament Law for the crimes that were committed. Leviticus 20, verse 13 says: "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them." Now this text assigns the moral culpability, except obviously in the case of rape, to the active partner and the passive partner. And it adds that under Old Testament Law in Old Testament Israel, such acts required the death penalty. So Old Testament Law is very clear, very straightforward.

But let's leave the Old Testament and go to the New Testament. And specifically, let's start with our Lord's teaching. There is no direct mention of homosexuality in the gospels, and those who want to promote the homosexual agenda make much of that. But there's a good reason there's no mention of homosexuality in the gospels, and that's because our Lord's ministry was in first century Israel. And not only was the sin forbidden in first century Israel, but it was not tolerated as it was in many of the pagan countries. However, that said, Jesus did weigh in on the issue of homosexuality in several ways indirectly. First of all, our Lord affirmed the Old Testament with its clear teaching about homosexuality. We've already seen it, haven't we, in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 of Matthew and verse 17? "Do not think that I came to abolish [the Old Testament] the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away [in other words, never], not the smallest [Hebrew] letter or [the smallest distinguishing] stroke [of a letter] shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Jesus affirmed in the strongest possible language all that the Old Testament said and taught. If you doubt that, go back and listen to the messages that we did on Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 and 18.

Secondly, Jesus affirmed the created order recorded in Genesis. In Mark chapter 10, our Lord quotes Genesis 1:27 as well as Genesis 2:24 that we've already looked at. And He quotes them as the twin pillars of marriage. In fact, what we discover in Mark 10 is that marriage is not a social construct. According to our Lord, God established marriage at the beginning, at creation. And then Christ Himself performed the first marriage ceremony on day six of the creation between Adam and Eve, whom He had just created. Because God established marriage, He also sets the parameters for marriage, including that marriage is to be between a male and a female. Look at verse 6: "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." By the way, this is so clear that we even use this language in everyday commerce. If you go down to the Home Depot, you'll find that many electrical parts, many plumbing parts, are designated as male and female. Why is that? It's to show that they were made for each other. Two males don't work. Two females don't work. It takes a male and a female to complete the union, and only two of them.

Verse 8: "And the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh." When God first instituted marriage, he made two—Adam and Eve. Marriage is for one man and one woman. God permitted polygamy in the Old Testament, but Jesus says it was never the divine design. It was never the divine intention. Verse 7, Jesus says God established the priority of marriage: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother"—not physically necessarily, but in terms of what is the most important relationship in life. It changes from his parents to the new relationship, the marriage that he now has with his wife.

God also established the permanence of marriage. Look at verses 8 and 9: "The two shall become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. [And then Jesus adds His own personal commentary to those two Old Testament references]. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." God joins two people in marriage, this is His design, and no man is to separate that. It's to be such a permanent relationship that, according to the Scripture, there are only two legitimate ways for a follower of Jesus Christ to end his marriage, and that is either the partner has been unfaithful sexually in the marriage or the abandonment by an unbeliever who wants out. It's a permanent relationship. By the way, let me just say the rumors of the death of marriage are greatly exaggerated, even in today's world. But our Lord prophesied that when the end of the age comes, it'll be just like the days of Noah. There'll be marrying and giving in marriage. So Jesus confirmed and affirmed here the created order in Genesis. And of course, He affirmed the rest of the New Testament by authorizing the apostles to speak on His behalf. So the rest of the New Testament speak on behalf of Christ, including when they speak to the issue of homosexuality. They were His apostles, His "sent ones."

So, with that in mind, let's consider the epistles' teaching. And of course, we have to begin in Romans chapter 1. In Romans 1, Paul says that because of man's sin, man denies and suppresses the evidence in creation that's all around him for the true God. He denies that evidence. He suppresses that evidence. And he refuses to worship the true God. He refuses to glorify God. And he refuses even to be grateful to God for the things he enjoys. Instead he becomes an idolater. He worships something else. See, all of us were wired to worship. You were hard-wired to worship as was every other human on the planet. And if you're not worshiping the true God, then you're worshiping an idol.

Now notice in response to man's idolatry, God displays His divine wrath, verse 18: "The wrath of God is being revealed"—He displays His divine wrath by abandoning man to his sin. This is the wrath of abandonment. In verses 24 to 25, He abandons him to sexual immorality. And in verses 26 and 27, He abandons him to homosexuality. Notice verse 26: "For this reason [that is, because man refuses to worship the true God, because he's become an idolater, because God gave him over to sexual sin—for this reason] God gave them over [He abandons them] to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

Now these two verses deserve a lot more time than I can give them this morning. And Lord willing if, when we finish the Sermon on the Mount, I am seriously considering beginning an exposition of Romans; if so, we'll get here. But let me just make a couple of important points that are made in these verses about God's perspective on homosexuality. First of all, all homosexuality is rebellion against God's created design. All homosexuality is rebellion against God's created design. Notice it's called "unnatural"—literally contrary to nature. Now some try to say that Paul is only condemning homosexual acts by heterosexuals here. It's unnatural for a heterosexual to commit homosexual acts, but it's natural for a homosexual to commit homosexual acts. That's not what Paul is saying. Notice he explains "contrary to nature" as being men with men and women with women. It is contrary to God's creation and His design. This is obvious, even in the way human bodies are made. It is unnatural. It is a rebellion against God's created design.

Number two: all homosexual acts are sinful. All homosexual acts are sinful. Here he mentions men with men. He mentions women with women. This would include, as well as it does other places in Scripture, pedophilia with children and pederasty, which is men with young men. All of those homosexual acts are sinful.

Thirdly, homosexual desires are sinful. Notice what he says. He calls them "degrading passions." The Greek word "degrading" is literally "dishonoring, shameful" passions. And he said they "burned in their desire." The idea is they were consumed with their lust. Not only are the acts sinful, but the desires are sinful. They are degrading and dishonoring and shameful. Number four: homosexuality—and by the way, before I leave that, let me just say, "Isn't that true with all sin?" I mean, not only are we forbidden to commit adultery; we're forbidden to lust after another woman in our hearts. The same thing is true with homosexual sin. Not only is it wrong to commit it; it's wrong to desire it. It's sinful.

Number four: homosexuality is self-destructive—"receiving in their own persons [Paul says] the due penalty of their error." This probably refers to diseases to which they are exposed—both venereal diseases as well as AIDS because of the typical promiscuity that goes along with a homosexual lifestyle. A 2004 study by the University of Chicago found that among the gay population of the Shoreland area of Chicago (that among the gay population there), 43 percent of the gay population had had more than 60 sexual partners; 61 percent had had more than 30 partners, and 88 percent had had more than 15 partners. As a result of that, they found 55 percent of the homosexual population of the Shoreland area of Chicago had at least one sexually transmitted disease—55 percent—"receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

Number five: homosexuality is worthy of divine judgment and death. This, by the way, is the same with all of the sins listed in Romans 1. There's a long catalog of sins of which we've all been guilty. And notice verse 32—this includes homosexuality: "Although they know the ordinance of God"—How do they know it? They know it through the Word of God. They know it, according to Romans 2, because the substance of God's Law has been written on the conscience. They've eventually seared their consciences perhaps, but it begins with the conscience very much producing guilt. God designed the conscience to do that. "They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they also give hearty approval to those who practice them." There's the story of our culture. They not only do them—they know they're worthy of death, they not only do them, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them. Romans 1 says that wherever there is idolatry (and that's everywhere there isn't the worship of the true God—wherever there is idolatry), there will be sexual sin and there will be a toleration at some level of homosexuality. In fact, you know, it's interesting. And this is a different message for a different time but apart from the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures, throughout human history the homosexuals are right. Homosexuality has largely been tolerated or accepted or even institutionalized. Read the great Greek cultures and the Roman cultures and you'll find that's true. We're the odd man out because we have a Word from God in the Scripture. We worship the true God, and therefore the idolatry that produces the wrath of abandonment is not something we have regularly been exposed to. Here in Romans 1, Paul makes it clear that a society that affirms and accepts homosexuality is not only sinning and rebelling against its Creator but, in its very affirmation of that sin, that is an expression of God's judgment of abandonment.

Let's look at another text. First Corinthians chapter 6. First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9: "Or do you not know [Paul writes to the Corinthians] that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Now what is Paul doing here? He's providing a list of the major kinds of sins that mark unbelievers. This is not a comprehensive list. It's a representative list. Two words in this list have to do with homosexuality— "effeminate" and "homosexuals." The first Greek word that's translated "effeminate" is used even in secular ancient Greek to refer to the passive partner in homosexual acts; the second word to the active partner. And Paul says that those whose lives are characterized by homosexuality as well as the rest of these sins—if your life is characterized by these things, you are, notice, "unrighteous." Clearly such acts then are sinful. This is not a culturally conditioned list. This isn't because of that poor, uninformed first century culture. All these sins listed here are still very much sins against God.

In addition, Paul says that the person who engages in a life of homosexuality doesn't belong to Jesus' spiritual kingdom. In other words, he's not a Christian. Don't you buy for a moment those guys who walk around saying, "I'm an evangelical Christian and I'm a practicing homosexual." Paul says there is no such thing. That's a misnomer. That's an oxymoron. If you're practicing sin in these categories, he says you're not part of Jesus' kingdom. And unless this person repents, he will not inherit a place in Jesus' future kingdom either. But there's really good news—there's good news in the gospel because you look at that list in verses 9 and 10 and, frankly, all of us find ourselves in that list, don't we? Somewhere in that list, we're all there. But Paul begins verse 11 by saying: "Such were some of you; but you were washed [that describes the new life that comes in regeneration, the washing of regeneration when God washes our souls and makes us new], but you were sanctified [that is, you were set apart from sin unto holiness; you were broken from the slavery of sin and given a new power to obey and new behavior in place of the old sin], but you were justified [you were given a new standing before God not based on your own works, your own righteousness, but based solely on the work and righteousness of Jesus Christ] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." Listen. There were Christians in the church in Corinth just as there are Christians in this church who used to be homosexuals but who have been changed. Don't you believe the lie that once you're born a homosexual and that you're always that and there's no hope. "Such were some of you" the apostle Paul says. The gospel brings the power to change. It makes us new. God can change you. Homosexuality is a sin. It's a grave sin. It's a sin that's repulsive to God. And if you refuse to repent of that sin, it will damn your soul, Jesus says. But there's the gospel that says if you're willing to turn from that sin, there is forgiveness, there is grace; it can be overcome.

By the way, there's an important point for us here who are in Christ, and that is that homosexuals are not the enemies; they're the mission field. It bothers me when, when supposed Christian leaders go on national television and say, "They saw a gay website and wanted to vomit." Really? Of course we're grieved with sin of all kinds, but what about praying for them, asking God to save them from the sin they're enslaved to just as you were at one point enslaved to sin? "For we ourselves were one time foolish and disobedient, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures," Paul says. Therefore we're to treat all men with respect.

A couple of other passages just to mention—First Timothy 1:10. In this passage, Paul reaffirms the Old Testament moral law that's summarized in the Ten Commandments. And when he gets to the seventh commandment, rather than just mentioning adultery, he also includes homosexuality. And he makes it clear that it is still a violation of God's timeless moral law in the first century as it was two thousand years before (fourteen hundred years before; and in the time of Abraham, two thousand years before).

In 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 6, listen to 2 Peter 2:6. Peter writes: "God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter." Listen. God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah proves that He hates not only homosexuality. He hates every sin and He will judge every sin. The smoke ascending from the cities on the plain showed us that God is patient (but God) and he's slow to anger, but God is also a God of justice and wrath. And where there's not repentance, judgment comes.

How do we apply all of this? Very quickly—first of all, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, what God has said in Scripture about homosexuality is clear. It's clear. You must believe what God has said in His Word. You must define marriage as God has defined it. And when you're asked to speak on these issues or to vote on these issues, you need as a believer to be kind, to be gracious, to consider the fact that you yourself were one time foolish and disobedient and therefore treat those people with respect, but you must speak against and vote against any attempt to redefine homosexual acts as acceptable or as constituting marriage. But when you do that, don't be surprised when persecution comes.

Number two: if you're a Christian here this morning but you still struggle with the temptation to be sexually attracted to members of the same sex, you must respond to that temptation the same way that all Christians must respond to their own temptations and lusts. You must begin by acknowledging that it is a part of your fallenness. It is part of your flesh. As James says in James 1:14, "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." That temptation may have started when you were young. Perhaps in your home was the physical and, and emotional absence of a caring father. Perhaps, God forbid, you were abused as a child and it introduced you to this sort of attraction. Regardless, maybe some other way—regardless of how that temptation has come to you, you must confess both the sinful desires and any attempt to carry out those desires. You must forsake them and make no provision to fulfill that lust. You must break off all connection to the people and circumstances that feed that temptation. Talk to one of our elders. Give us a chance to help you in this struggle against this sin in your life. But don't give in. Don't stop fighting. And don't believe the culture that says that's how you're defined. If you're in Christ, "such were some of you." You may still struggle with the temptation as all of us struggle with our own sets of temptations, even as believers, but that doesn't define who you are. Fight it tooth and nail. As Jesus says, "Cut off your right hand, pluck out your right eye," but keep fighting.

Number three: if you claim to be a Christian but you are involved in an ongoing life of and practice of homosexuality, Paul couldn't be clearer—you are not a Christian. You are not in Christ. But there's hope for you because if you will turn from your sin and you will seek the heart change that only God can produce in you, if you'll humble yourself before Him, God will change you. He will forgive your sins. Listen. Jesus died to save all kinds of sinners from their sins, including those who struggle with homosexuality. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Such were some of you."

Finally, if you aren't a Christian here this morning and you know you're not a Christian but you're not tempted by homosexuality (in fact, you, you're tempted to sort of look down on those who struggle with that), Jesus Christ has a word for you in Matthew chapter 10, verse 14. He said to His disciples as He sent them out to preach the gospel (listen to this) He said, "Whoever does not receive you, or heed your words [if they don't listen to the gospel message you bring— this is Jesus]. . . Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for them." Jesus says if you've heard the gospel and heard the gospel and you've just kept rejecting it and rejecting it—and this is Jesus Christ, this is the One who will do the judging. He knows. And He says, "When you stand before Him at the judgment, it will be far worse for you than for the people He destroyed when He wrecked the cities of the plain." Today is the day of salvation. Let's pray together.

Father, these are hard things to hear and to speak, but I pray that You would use Your truth in all our lives. Help us to be obedient to Your truth. Help us to think like You think about the issues of our times. "May You be true, O God, and every man a liar." I pray, Father, that You would help us to be gentle, to be gracious, but to be courageous in the defense of the truth. Father, may we be people who bear the message of grace to those who are caught and trapped in all kinds of sins, including the sin of homosexuality.

Father, I pray for those in our church who are in Christ, but still struggle with a temptation in this area. Lord, give them the courage to fight that sin and, and lust, even as we all must our own sins and lusts. And Father, I pray that they would be faithful to You and see an increasing pattern of righteousness and a decreasing pattern of the temptation to that sin.

Father, I pray for those here who aren't in Christ. May this be the day when, regardless of what sins they come to the cross with, they find the forgiveness that only Christ can bring through His death. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.