Homosexuality - Genesis Part 47

You know virtually every person here, I believe, know someone personally who would call themselves a homosexual. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a relative. Maybe if someone at work and some of us here struggle with same-sex attraction in our own lives and were going to resume today.

Our verse by verse study in the book of Genesis and because were in Genesis 19 where this is part of the issue we are going to be talking about this subject today. Now, as we all know this topic is probably the most controversy over subject in all of America today and so I've had people ask me hey long are we going to skip this because it's so controversy oh well, just let me say that here McLean Bible church, we don't skip topics. That's not what we do. I teach the word of God. Verse by verse and when we come to a topic controversy over not we deal with it biblically. We deal with it straightforwardly and then we move on to the next verses enter whatever topic they're talking about in this is what were going to do today. Now I know a lot of churches have dealt with this issue and have done so in a hateful way in a homophobic way. But this is not us at McLean Bible church we're going to address this topic in a biblical way, which means that were going to teach what the Bible really says about homosexuality and same-sex marriage but were going to do it in a way that reflects the love and the compassion that the Lord Jesus Christ has for every single one of us so are you ready are here we go.

When Genesis 19. As I said, but since it's been a little while since we have been in the book of Genesis.

I think maybe a tiny bit of review would be in order in Genesis 18 we saw the three men showed up to see Abraham two of them were angels in human form and the third one was the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the appearance of a man that is part of that is it. This is what happened.

Genesis 1820. The Lord said to Abraham, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is exceedingly great and their sin is exceedingly greediest.

Now what sin was the Lord talking about. That was so greediest to him. Well let's going to chapter 19 and let's look verse one.

So to man. That is, the Angels arrived in Sodom in the evening and lots were sitting in the city gate and when Lot saw the two men he rose and went to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground and he said sir please turn aside to your servants house meeting his own out. You can wash your feet and spend the night there and then go on your way early in the morning, but before they went to bed. All of the men from every part of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded lots house and they called to Lot and said where are the men who came to you tonight.

Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them. So Lot went outside to meet them and said no do not do this wicked thing, but the man said get out of the way. Then the two men. The Angels reached out and pulled lots back into his house and shut the door. Then they struck the men at the door, young and old, with blindness and then a little later in the chapter after Lot and his family have gotten out of Sodom. Verse 24 then the Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and the loss he overthrew those cities. So what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah that was exceedingly greediest in the Lord's side.

So much so that he destroyed the cities. Well, some people say based on a verse in Ezekiel that it was a lack of hospitality on the part of these men but that's just not the case, and we know that because the New Testament comments on Genesis chapter 19 and the events that went on their second Peter chapter 2 verse six the Bible says God condemned up Sodom and Gomorrah to make them. An example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. This is especially true of those who indulge in the lusts of unclean passions of the Greek word mi Osma seer, the Jews is a word that means sexual passions, sexual issues. The point is that the Bible is very clear that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was sexual in nature, and the only thing therefore it could be is the homosexual behavior or that these men wanted to carry out with the Angels now having established that, let's talk a little bit about where we are in America these days when it comes to this very same kind of behavior. Well, I'm sure you know this past Tuesday. Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage. I'm sure you also know the currently California's proposition eight, where the citizens of the state of California passed an amendment to the California State Constitution making same-sex marriage illegal that this is up for review by the United States Supreme Court were analysts fully expected to be overturned as a matter of fact, the pew research organization back in March 2012 conducted a poll in which they found that 70% of people born after 1980, support same-sex marriage here in America you serve along why is this will it's like Pres. Obama said and I quote he said the basic principle America was founded on the idea that were all created equal applies to every body regardless of sexual orientation as well as race or gender or religion or ethnicity. Let's treat every body fairly. Let's treat every body equal" in other words, all of these folks that favor the treatment of gay people and heterosexual people.

The same, and who are supportive of same-sex marriage. They are that way because they see all of this as a civil rights issue. They see all of this as a fairness issue. They see it as an issue of treating every body equal and crosses followers of Christ. This is where the rubber calls because if homosexuality and same-sex marriage are just a civil rights issue.

If they are just a fairness issue. If they are just a treat every body equal issue and we oppose them on that basis, then we are guilty of all the bad things that people say about but you see as followers of Christ we are people of the book, the Bible, the word of God and as such we must first and foremost see everything in life, not as a civil rights issue not as a fairness issue and not as a treat every body equal issue but as a biblical issue and then we must decide our behavior in response based on what the Bible teaches about that topic.

So what is the Bible said about homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Let's look and see we begin in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 13.

The Bible says if a man lies with another man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. Leviticus 18 verse 22 says you shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. It is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. We've already seen in Genesis 18 verse 20 that the Bible says God says the sin of Sodom which we know now was homosexual behavior that it was grievous in his sight and will be going to the New Testament we find the same position in the Bible Romans chapter 1 verse 26 calls this behavior degraded.

Romans 126 calls it unnatural. Romans 127 calls it indecent. Romans 128 calls it depraved and not proper. Second Peter chapter 2 verse six calls it ungodly and second Peter two verse 10 calls it on clean. I could give you more versus but I believe the point is made that the Bible has a totally consistent position on homosexual behavior, a position that is never changed up, since homosexual behavior first appeared here on earth, and that is that namely God regards it as sinful ungodly behavior that is previous in his sight.

Furthermore, when it comes to same-sex marriage. We find that that's not part of God's plan for the human race either.

Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 of which is where God created the very institution of marriage. Here's what it says it says a man literally in Hebrew.

Each not meaning just a man, and generally means a male as opposed to a female a male. So leave his father and his mother and cleave to his Isha, which doesn't mean why it means woman female and the two of them shall become one flesh. So from the beginning God defines marriage as one male +1 female and Jesus corroborates this in the New Testament, Matthew 19 verse five he said a man shall leave his the Greek word is goon day which does not mean why in Greek it means literally a female person listen. It's true that God loves the world, and it's true that Jesus died on the cross to offer forgiveness to every body but folks if we think that changes God's position on homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage.

I'm afraid that we are sadly mistaken. Let's go now.

In Romans chapter 1 and here in Romans chapter 1.

The Bible is describing for us how human societies deteriorate, how they were deteriorate morally and spiritually, and come under God's judgment and notice that each of the three successive stages.

God tells us about here are denotative by the phrase in the Bible God gave them over here we go for the three stages stays number one in that deterioration is humanism. Romans one verse 21 for although men knew God existed. They refused to glorify him as God and exchange the glory of God for images, idols in the form of men and birds and animals. Therefore, here's our praise God gave them over so that they worshiped and served created things idols rather than the creator so stage I in a societies fall comes when that society dethroned God as the head of that society and replaces him with man man's wisdom man's achievements man's capacities man's idols like the name and reputation in power and money. I don't know about you, but as I look at American society today.

My sense is we are already well through stage number one. Which brings us to stage number two and that is accepted homosexual behavior.

Watch Romans 126. Because of this humanism next God gave them over there. We are to degrading passions. For their women exchanged natural relations with men, for that which is unnatural and in the same way men abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their lust for one another man with man committing indecent acts and did you ever wonder why in these verses God mentions the women of society. First for the man. What is the reason for that. It's because God's trying to tell us that what we have here in stage II is not just a few closet homosexuals in a society. What we have is an entire society.

Accepting and approving and normalizing homosexual behavior. So much so that even the women in that society who are normally the more chaste and the more virtuous element of any society even today are brazenly taking part in this. Now I think in America we are presently teetering right here at stage II in fact an article in Time magazine several weeks ago entitled was the cover article. The title of it was gay marriage already one in the article. Time magazine said and I quote, exit polls in November 2012 show that 83% of voters believe that same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide.

In the next 5 to 10 years." And you know all of this is no accident, no, no, it's part of a deliberate strategy by the gay community.

In his article the overhauling of straight America Arthur Marshall Kirk said this and I quote he said the first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights are campaign should not demand direct support for homosexual practices but should instead take antidiscrimination as its theme, you can forget he says about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing but it's if you can only get them to think that it is just another thing, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually one and he concludes by saying, and we can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated backwaters badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology such has worked well on churches before on such topics as divorce and abortion."

And that takes us to stage number three which is spiritual hardness. The Bible calls this a society with a reprobate mind. Romans chapter 1 verse 28 since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God in their minds. Here we go again. God gave them over to a reprobate mind of so that they became filled with every sort of wicked behavior and depravity not only did they themselves do such things, but they took pleasure in convincing others to do them. Also in this final stage we have a society without a conscience.

We have a society that's become desensitized to sin as the Bible says full of every sort of wicked behavior and depravity you say well on thank God, at least we're not here yet really really never watch cable television never watch normal television. I mean adultery in premarital sex is casual on these programs is having a Diet Coke murder is almost on every program. Pornography is rampant foul language has become so commonplace that the bleeps don't even matter anymore. I me what's happening to our society friends was happening his were beginning to enter stage III and how does all this relate to homosexuality well because Romans chapter 1 says that once a society legitimizes homosexual behavior. It's like that society loses its moral compass and it begins the climbing morally into a place from which history tells us no society has ever recovered or survive now that's as far as were to go in our treatment of this biblically, but it leaves us with an important question you're still out there. Okay I and so you know what our question is no chip.

It's a very important question in light of this topic so are you ready are you to go nice and loud one to a salon minutes heavy stuff that you just been put out here. I mean, so what would we do about all of well I believe we ought to have a double prong, the response as the Church of Christ number one response number one is we need to keep standing for God's truth.

Remember we said two weeks ago that one of the purposes mother for purposes of the church is to proclaim God's true is found in the Bible to a lost and dying world and therefore response number one is that we need to keep telling this world. What God's position is on homosexual behavior and on same-sex marriage. Now I'm I gotta tell you personally, I'm inclined to agree with.

Time magazine that gay marriage is already one I believe we are so far over the precipice right now that only a earthshaking Holy Spirit driven revival has any hope of turning us around and I'm praying for that but even if that never happens.

It does not observe all laws as the church of Christ of our responsibility before God to preach the word second Timothy chapter 4, to preach it without compromise to preach it, whether it's popular or not and that is precisely what we here at McLean Bible Church are committed to keep doing praise God praise the Lord I bought. There's a second response we need that is, we need to reach out to homosexual people with Christ centered love and compassion because homosexual behavior can result in some really bad consequences in people's lives and we need to have compassion on these folks and we need to love these folks the way Jesus himself loved people who were doing terrible sins in his day, but he loved him anyway and reached out to me and compassion. Anyway is a will, bad, bad results are you talking about will there were three studies published in the archives of Gen. psychiatry are this is something published by the Journal of the American Medical Association is not a Christian publication at all and the concluding study of these three was by a gentleman named Jay Michael Bailey and I don't know if you recognize the name Jay Michael Bailey but he was the researcher. We should note this who did much of the gay twin studies which were used by gay advocates for support of the born that way.

Theory so he's a hero in the gay community. He is not anti-homosexual by any stretch of the imagination. And yet even he said this and I quote he said these studies contain arguably the best published data on the association between homosexuality and psychopathology in both studies converge on the same unhappy conclusion that homosexual people are at substantially higher risk for some forms of emotional problems including suicidality, major depressions anxiety disorder, conduct disorder and substance abuse." Number what we said homosexual behavior can result in some really bad consequences in people's lives not want to say by way of balance that there's a lot of heterosexual behaviors that can result in some really bad consequences in people's lives as well is just a were not talking about them right now.

That's not the topic. In fact, summarizing these three studies in this journal, Dr. Neil Whitehead in his article entitled homosexuality and mental health problems said and I quote recent studies show homosexuals have a substantially greater risk of suffering from psychiatric problems, then do heterosexuals we see higher rates of suicide, depression, bulimia antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse." We need to have compassion on people who were caught up in something that does this many times to their lives. They civil long-winded.

I think that maybe the reason people that homosexuals have all these issues is because they're living in a society here in America that stigmatizes homosexual behavior.

A society that has like churches and other places that threaten them with Helen. All these other thing with a face rejection and so that's probably why they're having all the psychiatric problems.

Yeah well know, no, listen to Dr. Whitehead. He goes on to say one of these three studies.

By the way was done in the Netherlands. He goes on to say that I quote the authors of the study done in the Netherlands were surprised to find so much mental illness in homosexual people in a country, the Netherlands were tolerance of homosexuality is greater then in almost all other countries is matter-of-fact. He goes on to say another good comparison is New Zealand which is much more tolerant of homosexuality, that in the US. Despite this broad level of social tolerance. He says in a New Zealand study suicide attempts among homosexual people were common at about the same rate as in the US" the point my friends is that despite all the propaganda of the homosexual community and despite the logic that maybe it's because of the stigmatize Asian that they face in America what the facts show is that it has nothing to do with that stigmatize Asian it has to do with the simple fact that homosexual behavior produces some really sad personal consequences in people's lives. So along with homosexual people who say that they really have this inborn or attraction. It's not a choice they make. It's not imaginary either.

It's real well. I believe you say do I believe them because as a non-gay man I have an inborn attraction to members of the opposite sex, and it's not my imagination either. So I believe is a salon you agree that same-sex attraction is intrinsically ingrained or in some people, absolutely I do also. So is line and cheating and stealing and adultery manipulation scheming and coveting and gossiping. Remember we saw earlier in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden. One of the consequences was that every human being born after that is born with an intrinsic sin nature and all these things we just mentioned, lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, homosexual behavior.

All of this is part of that sin nature, but this isn't the real issue.

The real issue is what we do with these inborn sinful desires. Remember, it's not sin to have a sinful desire it.

Sin to act on it may marry 39 years next month and I know what God says in the Bible, thou shalt not commit adultery.

And so I have to depend on the Holy Spirit's power each and every day to help me shut down my innate attraction to other women and not act on it, but more defiance and that's what the real issue is here, my friend. That's what it's all about it's all about helping homosexual people by the Holy Spirit's power control their same-sex desires and obedience to God. Just like by the Holy Spirit's power. I have to control my heterosexual desires in obedience to God. The bottom line is that God's message in the Bible to homosexuals and heterosexuals is exactly the same message friends remember all sin is equally offensive in God's sight. All sin, but also remember women that God's love for every sinner is equal and that Jesus died on the cross for heterosexual sinners and for homosexual sinners. Equally, we need to be very careful about not being 21st century Pharisee, where we look down our noses at certain sin and would all like a Pharisee you member in the temple who said I think you are not like this person that I thank you are not like this person or not. Thank you. I'm not like that tax collector over there friends, don't you understand you all you will in the sight of God. We all are. God doesn't grade 8, sin. It's all sin.

It's all offensive and Jesus died for all of it. It's the same and we need to be careful that we understand this and therefore our message to homosexuals and our message to heterosexuals is exactly the same, that through the life altering power of Jesus Christ and with some help from godly loving friends every one of us every one of us can live a life of obedience to God. That's the message of the word of God. And that's the message we need to preach to every body.

A man with me are now let me just say in closing, if you're here today you're struggling with same-sex desire and you've never told anybody because you're afraid you are embarrassed I want to say to you that keeping that to yourself is the absolute worst thing you can do.

Jesus said, John chapter 12 verse 35 walk in the light listen my friend healing takes place in the light of becoming healthy is a person takes place in the light, beating sins that have their claws into us takes place in the light because in the light, we can bring the presence of the Spirit of God in his power to bear in the light. You can be surrounded by godly loving friends and community who can walk with you, but in the darkness. None of this can happen folks gotta come out in the light, we can help you and I urge you if you need help to call our campus pastor here, Tysons joint requests to emailing he's ready. He knows he's calls and emails are coming and we, along with the Holy Spirit and some godly friends. We will surround you with your heterosexual or homosexual, you call us if you need to come out in the light pornography needs to come out in the light. All of it needs to come out let me say one final thing. If you're here and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way as your Savior. You need a free step to all of this because we can help you unless the spirit of God's power is operating in your life and the spirit of God's power doesn't operate in anybody's life that's not born again, that doesn't know Christ that hasn't given their heart to Christ when were born again. That's what activates the spirit of God's power in our life. And so if you've never done that. We have a free step you need to do and Joe Hamrick's can help you with that as well.

Let me say in closing, we don't skip topics here McLean Bible church because the controversy but by the same token, we don't harp on topics here McLean Bible church because there controversy. What that means is we're not going to have another sermon next week on homosexuality and his sermon the week after that on homosexuality.

The next time we talk about homosexuality will be where when we get to it in our verse by verse study of wherever and you need to know this is all we plan to say we said that we need to say it's time to move on to Genesis chapter 20 in let's talk about what's there, but we have tried today to talk about this topic with biblical clarity so you know were God statements but we've also tried to talk about with Christ's compassion and his love all of us sinners and I hope we built a good job for heavenly father.

You know, we've talked about a very sensitive topic today a very controversial topic today, a topic that many of us are touched by because we have friends relative children who have decided to live a life of homosexual behavior, at least up to this point and so Lord use what we've talked about today to both declare truth and to extend compassion and mercy for mercy and compassion of Christ to people. Lord, I want to thank you for being clear in the Bible about where you stand on homosexual behavior, same-sex marriage, but I thank you that you went to the cross to pay for for all of us and every other sin known to man, Lord, may we as a church family offer that forgiveness and that love and mercy. Equally to everyone. Everyone here in Washington DC and we pray these things in the name of Christ what is God's people say that