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Voddie Baucham - The Sin of Sodom on Display in America · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the teaching ministry of Grace Family Baptist Church.
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  Speaker 1: GFBC's mission is proclaiming the supremacy of Christ to all
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  Speaker 1: men with a view of biblical conversion and comprehensive discipleship.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for visiting gracefamilybaptist.net.
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  Speaker 2: Father, thank you again for this incredible privilege of being
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  Speaker 2: in your presence, being among your people, having this opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to worship you. having this opportunity to be encountered by you.
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  Speaker 2: And now, Lord, as we open your word, we ask
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  Speaker 2: that you would do just that, that you would encounter
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  Speaker 2: us in your word. We ask that you would grant
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  Speaker 2: us wisdom, that you would grant us faith, that you
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  Speaker 2: would grant us ears to hear, that you would grant
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  Speaker 2: us a willing spirit that we might obey. Grant this,
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  Speaker 2: we ask, in Jesus' name. Amen. For his sake. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Several weeks ago, there was major controversy as the president-elect
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  Speaker 2: made a choice of Rick Warren to offer prayer during
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  Speaker 2: his inauguration ceremony. And the major controversy was really sort
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  Speaker 2: of originated rose up if you will on the west
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  Speaker 2: coast out of California because proposition 8 had passed in
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  Speaker 2: the state of California defining marriage as a relationship between
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  Speaker 2: a man and a woman and really overturning legislative action
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  Speaker 2: in the state of California that had allowed for homosexual
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  Speaker 2: marriage really that had mandated homosexual marriage so that the
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  Speaker 2: the Supreme Court there in California had made a decision
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  Speaker 2: for the entire state the state then spoke in response
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  Speaker 2: and revoked what the Supreme Court had said well Rick
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  Speaker 2: Warren has the dubious distinction of being a well-known pastor
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  Speaker 2: in the state of California who had the audacity to
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  Speaker 2: say publicly that he favored such a definition as a
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  Speaker 2: result when Dr. Warren was asked to come and pray
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  Speaker 2: there at the inauguration. Individuals who had their feelings hurt
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  Speaker 2: over Proposition 8 felt like it was an absolute affront
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  Speaker 2: to have a man to come and pray at the
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  Speaker 2: inauguration who actually believes that marriage should be defined as
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  Speaker 2: a relationship between a man and a woman. And there
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  Speaker 2: was a mighty uproar. However, there is another turn of
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  Speaker 2: events that has been rather silent in the press. And
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  Speaker 2: that turn of events that has been rather silent in
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  Speaker 2: the press is the fact that today, everything will be
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  Speaker 2: kicked off by a bishop named Gene Robinson. Now, Bishop
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  Speaker 2: Gene Robinson, you ask, who is that? Is he some
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  Speaker 2: famous preacher? No, not a famous preacher, not even a
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  Speaker 2: very good one. Is he some famous pastor? No, not
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  Speaker 2: a famous pastor. Actually quite a mediocre one. Is he
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  Speaker 2: some famous theologian or some famous author? Nope. No, you've
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  Speaker 2: never heard of Gene Robinson because of his theology or
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  Speaker 2: because of his writing or anything like that. Is he
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  Speaker 2: some unbelievable prayer warrior who is known for getting prayers
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  Speaker 2: answered and therefore he has been called upon to? No, no,
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  Speaker 2: absolutely not. Bishop Gene Robinson is a self-proclaimed alcoholic who
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  Speaker 2: abandoned his wife for another lover. Why, then, you ask,
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  Speaker 2: would he be brought in to kick off the ceremonies
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  Speaker 2: beginning today? I'll tell you why. Because he is the
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  Speaker 2: first openly homosexual man to be named a bishop by
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  Speaker 2: the Episcopal Church. It's the only reason that we know
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  Speaker 2: Gene Robinson's name. He is absolutely disqualified biblically from being
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  Speaker 2: a pastor. Absolutely disqualified biblically. You read 1 Timothy chapter 3.
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  Speaker 2: You read Titus chapter 1. It won't take you long,
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  Speaker 2: even apart from his homosexuality, it won't take you long
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  Speaker 2: to realize that this is a disqualified man. He's there
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  Speaker 2: for one reason and one reason only. Now, here's what
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  Speaker 2: we need to ask ourselves. If we're here in Genesis
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  Speaker 2: chapter 19, and we talked last week about the judgment
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  Speaker 2: of God, this awesome and terrible judgment of God being
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  Speaker 2: poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah as a reminder for
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  Speaker 2: all people of all times about the holiness of God
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  Speaker 2: and about the righteousness of God, How do we then
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  Speaker 2: come to a place where we so openly and so
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  Speaker 2: readily accept this abomination? Well, we probably don't have time
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  Speaker 2: to answer that question in full. But I think there
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  Speaker 2: are some clues here in Genesis chapter 19. And so
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  Speaker 2: we'll look here at Genesis chapter 19, and it's impossible, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: to look at Genesis chapter 19 without addressing some very
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  Speaker 2: serious apologetic questions in our culture and in our day.
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  Speaker 2: Because as I will demonstrate for you, it is not
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  Speaker 2: the consensus among most Christians that Genesis chapter 19, either
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  Speaker 2: number one, is a direct, direct answer issue of open
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  Speaker 2: and blatant sodomy or number two that it has anything
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  Speaker 2: to do with your life and my life today or
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  Speaker 2: anything whatsoever to do with what the Bible has to
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  Speaker 2: say about what marriage is and what appropriate sexual relations
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  Speaker 2: are there are individuals and you'll hear from some of
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  Speaker 2: those individuals today who make that argument, either argument number one,
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  Speaker 2: they try to subvert the text, and they say, no, no, no, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: Genesis chapter 19 is really not about that sin. The
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  Speaker 2: sin in Sodom and Gomorrah is not really about that sin.
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  Speaker 2: Or they say, yes, that was the issue there. However,
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  Speaker 2: we're now no longer under law, we're under grace, and
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  Speaker 2: in the New Testament, we don't have such a stern pronouncement.
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  Speaker 2: or any pronouncement at all, some would argue, against what
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  Speaker 2: they would refer to as loving, monogamous homosexual relationships. And again,
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  Speaker 2: let me just say, the reason it's important for us
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  Speaker 2: to address this, number one, is because the Bible addresses
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  Speaker 2: it clearly and openly. But secondly, because the individuals making
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  Speaker 2: these claims, The individuals whose voices are heard the loudest
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  Speaker 2: are individuals who are identified as being inside the church,
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  Speaker 2: not outside the church. So I'm not saying here that
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  Speaker 2: a bunch of professors in other disciplines got together and
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  Speaker 2: said to the church, church, you're out to lunch. No,
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying individuals who stand up here and do what
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing. I'm saying individuals who teach in colleges and
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  Speaker 2: seminaries and train pastors. I'm saying individuals whose names and
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  Speaker 2: work are known in theological circles are the ones making
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  Speaker 2: this kind of proclamation and its impact. is so widespread
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  Speaker 2: that you and I both know. I mean, we could
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  Speaker 2: spend the rest of the day allowing individuals to come
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  Speaker 2: up here and testify one by one of people that
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  Speaker 2: they know personally in their own lives who, on the
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  Speaker 2: one hand, claim allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
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  Speaker 2: on the other hand, believe that this issue of homosexuality
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  Speaker 2: is overblown and that it shouldn't be a major issue,
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  Speaker 2: if an issue at all, within the context of the church.
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  Speaker 2: I believe this first part of Genesis chapter 19 answers
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  Speaker 2: all of those issues rather clearly. Let me just read
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  Speaker 2: this for you, in case any of you are wondering if,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, how widespread is this? How overt
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  Speaker 2: is this? Let me just read this to you. We'll
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  Speaker 2: start with this one. We'll just warm up with a
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  Speaker 2: little Brian McLaren. Brian McLaren, well-known name. Brian McLaren is
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  Speaker 2: the leader of the Emergent Slash Emerging church slash conversation.
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  Speaker 2: And I put all those slashes in there because that's
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  Speaker 2: what they do. Some of them say emerging church. Some
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  Speaker 2: say emergent church. Some say emerging conversation or emergent conversation.
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  Speaker 2: Just depends on who you're talking to at the time.
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  Speaker 2: They're all swimming in the same stream. And Brian McLaren
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  Speaker 2: is their leader. Well-known, best-selling author, often called upon by
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  Speaker 2: the press. This is an article that appeared in Christianity Today.
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  Speaker 2: Do you hear me? Christianity Today is where this appeared.
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  Speaker 2: The title is Brian McLaren on the homosexual question, finding
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  Speaker 2: a pastoral response. Finding a pastoral response to the homosexual question.
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  Speaker 2: Talks about someone who came up to him and asked
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  Speaker 2: him a question and how reserved he is about even
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  Speaker 2: answering when people ask him about that particular issue. And
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  Speaker 2: listen to what he says. I hesitate in answering the
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  Speaker 2: homosexual question, not because I am a cowardly flip-flopper who
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  Speaker 2: wants to tickle ears, but because I am a pastor.
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  Speaker 2: And pastors have learned from Jesus that there is more
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  Speaker 2: to answering a question than being right or even honest.
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  Speaker 2: He must also be honest. pastoral. That means understanding the
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  Speaker 2: question behind the question, the need or fear or hope
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  Speaker 2: or assumption that motivates the question. Don't answer the question.
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  Speaker 2: Answer the question behind the question and answer the fear
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  Speaker 2: that motivates the question, but by all means, don't answer
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  Speaker 2: the question. Frankly, Many of us don't know what we
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  Speaker 2: should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides, but no
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  Speaker 2: position has yet won our confidence so that we can
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  Speaker 2: say it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.
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  Speaker 2: That alienates us from both the liberals and the conservatives
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  Speaker 2: who seem to know exactly what we should think. Even
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  Speaker 2: if we are convinced that all homosexual behavior is always sinful,
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  Speaker 2: we still want to treat gay, lesbian people with more dignity, gentleness,
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  Speaker 2: and respect than our colleagues do. If we think that
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  Speaker 2: there may actually be a legitimate context for some homosexual relationships,
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  Speaker 2: we know that the biblical arguments are nuanced and multilayered,
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  Speaker 2: and the pastoral ramifications are staggeringly complex. We aren't sure...
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  Speaker 2: if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do
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  Speaker 2: we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In
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  Speaker 2: the meantime, we'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listen respectfully, disagree agreeably.
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  Speaker 2: When decisions need to be made, again, he's talking about
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  Speaker 2: homosexuality here, They'll be admittedly provisional. We'll keep our ears
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  Speaker 2: attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology, ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology,
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  Speaker 2: and related fields. Then in five years, if we have clarity,
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  Speaker 2: we'll speak. If not, we'll set another five years for
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  Speaker 2: ongoing reflection. After all, many important issues in church history
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  Speaker 2: took centuries to figure out. Maybe this moratorium would help
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  Speaker 2: us resist the winds of doctrine blowing furiously from the
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  Speaker 2: left and the right so that we can patiently wait
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  Speaker 2: for the wind of the Spirit to set our course.
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  Speaker 2: That's where we are. That's where we are. And here's
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  Speaker 2: what I would venture to say to you. The overwhelming
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  Speaker 2: majority of people who claim to be Christian, you go
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  Speaker 2: to our college campuses, and you talk to the people
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  Speaker 2: who claim to be Christian on our college campuses between
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  Speaker 2: 18 and 22 years old, and the reason that Brian
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  Speaker 2: McLaren has such a loud voice in our culture is
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  Speaker 2: because on this issue, like many others, He is resoundingly
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  Speaker 2: more familiar to them and resoundingly more closely associated and
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  Speaker 2: aligned with where they are than anyone else speaking to
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  Speaker 2: the issue from a biblical perspective. In fact, and I
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  Speaker 2: may have shared this with you before, but in every state,
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  Speaker 2: here's what we know. In every state that has brought
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  Speaker 2: up the issue of homosexual marriage, in every state where
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  Speaker 2: it's been on the ballot, in every state it's passed
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  Speaker 2: overwhelmingly defining marriage as a relationship between a man and
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  Speaker 2: a woman. But in every state where it has passed,
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  Speaker 2: this one included, there's always been one demographic where it
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  Speaker 2: either passes by so slim a margin or doesn't pass
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  Speaker 2: at all. That one demographic is 18 to 24-year-olds. That's
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  Speaker 2: the demographic, 18 to 24-year-olds. The future, that's where they are.
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  Speaker 2: So lest you think that McLaren can be just sort
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  Speaker 2: of dismissed as this voice out there in the wilderness
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  Speaker 2: that no one would listen to, I remind you again,
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  Speaker 2: that was in Christianity today. You ever been in Christianity today?
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  Speaker 2: I have never been in Christianity today. That was in
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  Speaker 2: Christianity today, okay? Let's look at Genesis chapter 19. That
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  Speaker 2: is so obscure and multifaceted and nuanced. The two angels
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  Speaker 2: came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting
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  Speaker 2: in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he
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  Speaker 2: rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face
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  Speaker 2: to the earth and said, My Lord, please turn aside
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  Speaker 2: to your servant's house and spend the night and wash
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  Speaker 2: your feet. Then you may rise up early and go
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  Speaker 2: on your way. They said, No. We will spend the
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  Speaker 2: night in the town square. But he pressed them strongly.
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  Speaker 2: So they turned aside to him and entered his house.
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  Speaker 2: And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread,
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  Speaker 2: and they ate. Notice the similarities and the distinctions between
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  Speaker 2: his encounter and the encounter with Abraham. Notice the distinction
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  Speaker 2: between the way Abraham immediately recognizes who he's dealing with
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  Speaker 2: and Lot does not. Verse 4, But before they lay down,
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  Speaker 2: the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both
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  Speaker 2: young and old, all the people to the last man,
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  Speaker 2: surrounded the house and they called to Lot, Where are
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  Speaker 2: the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out
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  Speaker 2: to us that we may know them. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: you need to underline that term, that we may know them.
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  Speaker 2: Because here's one of the lines of argumentation. One of
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  Speaker 2: the lines of argumentation is about these individuals wanting to
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  Speaker 2: share hospitality with these individuals. So it's not about sodomy.
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  Speaker 2: But we've seen that word in Genesis a number of times.
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  Speaker 2: For example, Adam knew his wife. And as a result
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  Speaker 2: of him knowing his wife, they had a child. This
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  Speaker 2: word does not mean have a conversation. If you're wondering
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  Speaker 2: how we know that, look at the next part of
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  Speaker 2: the text. Verse 6. Lot went out to the men
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  Speaker 2: at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said,
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  Speaker 2: I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
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  Speaker 2: They're not talking about hospitality. Hospitality. Lot knows they're not
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  Speaker 2: talking about hospitality. If they just wanted to show hospitality,
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  Speaker 2: why would Lot accuse them of acting wickedly? Look at
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  Speaker 2: the next part of the text. Perhaps the most disturbing
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  Speaker 2: aspect of this entire passage. Behold, Lot says, I have
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  Speaker 2: two daughters who have not known any man. Let me
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  Speaker 2: bring them out to you and do to them as
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  Speaker 2: you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they
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  Speaker 2: have come under the shelter of my roof. We talked
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  Speaker 2: before about the rules of hospitality. An individual comes to
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  Speaker 2: your home. An individual comes by the way, you demonstrate
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  Speaker 2: hospitality to them. If they were hostile, perhaps you can
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  Speaker 2: stop the hostilities. But you also demonstrate hospitality to them
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  Speaker 2: and they are to be protected in your home. Because
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  Speaker 2: if something happens to them while they are in your home,
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  Speaker 2: that is actually considered an aggressive act on your part.
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  Speaker 2: And so when vengeance is carried out, it's carried out
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  Speaker 2: against you and your home. So on the one hand,
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  Speaker 2: we understand that Lot is actually acting in accordance with
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  Speaker 2: the law of hospitality in the ancient Near East. But
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  Speaker 2: the law of hospitality in the ancient Near East says
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  Speaker 2: nothing about giving away your virgin daughters. Verse 9, But
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  Speaker 2: they said, Stand back. And they said, This fellow came
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  Speaker 2: to sojourn, and he has become the judge of Now
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  Speaker 2: we will deal worse with you than with them. Again,
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  Speaker 2: supposedly this is about hospitality. Now they say, we will
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  Speaker 2: deal worse with you than with them. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: what they wanted with these men was something that was
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  Speaker 2: terrible for these men. And the way we know that
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  Speaker 2: is because now they say to Lot, it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be worse for you than it's going to be for them.
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  Speaker 2: Then they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and drew
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  Speaker 2: near to break the door down. But the men reached
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  Speaker 2: out their hands and brought Lot into the house with
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  Speaker 2: them and shut the door. And they struck with blindness
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  Speaker 2: the men who were at the entrance of the house,
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  Speaker 2: both small and great, so that they wore themselves out,
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  Speaker 2: groping for the door. This is absolutely one of the
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  Speaker 2: most disturbing passages in the Bible. There are so many
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  Speaker 2: things about this passage that just make us uncomfortable. Uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 2: There are so many things about this passage that just
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  Speaker 2: make us wonder even about the wisdom of delving into
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  Speaker 2: these kinds of issues. But I want to remind you
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  Speaker 2: that on last week we talked about the fact that
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  Speaker 2: God was bringing judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah in a
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  Speaker 2: very public way. And he was reminding, he's telling Abraham
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  Speaker 2: what he's about to do, specifically, the text says, so
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  Speaker 2: that Abraham can warn his children after him. God wants
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  Speaker 2: us to be warned about this issue. So he's specific
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  Speaker 2: about what he's dealing with, not graphic. Not graphic, but specific.
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  Speaker 2: And let me just put a footnote here. Let me
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  Speaker 2: put a footnote here. Especially, I know we've got a
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  Speaker 2: lot of homeschool families here. And one of the things
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  Speaker 2: that we hear oftentimes, homeschool families, you know exactly what
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  Speaker 2: I'm talking about. You know exactly where I'm coming from.
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  Speaker 2: One of the things we hear is this. Well, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I just don't want to shelter my children like that.
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  Speaker 2: Because if they're going to be out there in the
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  Speaker 2: world someday, I want them to be aware. Folks, God
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  Speaker 2: does not treat His children like that. He does not
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  Speaker 2: give us graphic evidence. sinful, unnecessary details. And yet, even
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  Speaker 2: without the graphic, sinful, unnecessary details, we know this is
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  Speaker 2: a bad thing. You don't have to see it. You
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  Speaker 2: don't have to experience it. You don't even have to
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  Speaker 2: walk closely with it to know that it's vile and
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  Speaker 2: that it's to be avoided. God doesn't get graphic with us.
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  Speaker 2: We don't have to be graphic with our children. Our
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  Speaker 2: children don't have to experience sin to know that sin
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  Speaker 2: is wrong. Our children don't have to walk with people
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  Speaker 2: who live in the gutter to know that they shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: live in the gutter. Our children don't have to be
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  Speaker 2: exposed to the most graphic and vile things of the
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  Speaker 2: world in order for them to recognize and be aware
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  Speaker 2: of the fact that there are graphic and vile things
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  Speaker 2: out there that they should flee from and in fact
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't even open their minds to. That's the way we
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  Speaker 2: should act towards sin. That's the way we should treat sin.
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  Speaker 2: So don't you ever apologize for sheltering your children. I
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  Speaker 2: believe we're commanded to shelter our children. Amen? Don't you
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  Speaker 2: ever apologize, regardless of what kind of choices you've made
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  Speaker 2: with your children. All of us in this room, regardless
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  Speaker 2: of those kinds of choices. I use that one because
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  Speaker 2: it's the most obvious and probably the most common in
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  Speaker 2: the room. But all of us have some choices that
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  Speaker 2: we've made with our children that sometimes people come down
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  Speaker 2: on because they talk about this issue of sheltering. Here's
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  Speaker 2: the other thing. You know your children and what some
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  Speaker 2: of them need as opposed to what others of them need. Amen?
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  Speaker 2: I never apologize for that. But here's the other thing.
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  Speaker 2: The idea is we protect our children, but we still
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  Speaker 2: give them the information. And you can give the information
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  Speaker 2: without the graphic nastiness. And I can just put another
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  Speaker 2: footnote here. There have been a number of times where
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: I've wished that I could say this to a person
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: who was in the process of sharing their testimony. Amen? Amen.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Sometimes my life was awful is enough. Amen. Sometimes we
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: don't need to know exactly how awful it was. We
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: don't need to know exactly what your experiences were. We
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: don't need to know exactly how gross and how vile
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: things were. Sometimes you can speak volumes by just saying,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: there were things in my life that I wish I'd
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: never seen and never done. Everybody in the room can go, amen, hallelujah,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: praise the Lord, move on from there. Amen? God opens
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: the door here. He lets us know exactly what he's
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: dealing with, exactly what he's talking about. But he does
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: not bring us to a place where we end up
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: being tempted with the sin by being brought into the
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: graphic nature of it. Several things I want to say
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: about the sin of Sodom. Number one, the sin of
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Sodom was sodomy. The sin of Sodom was sodomy. And
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I say that because there are a host of individuals
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: who make the argument that the sin of Sodom really
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: wasn't about sodomy. They go, for example, to Ezekiel chapter 16.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: In Ezekiel chapter 16, Ezekiel is speaking metaphorically about Sodom.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Sodom's not there anymore. Just like in Isaiah chapter 1.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: You know, hear my words, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: O you people of Gomorrah. Well, is Isaiah written to
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Sodom and Gomorrah? No, Isaiah is not written to Sodom
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah are toast already when Isaiah
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: is writing. Sodom and Gomorrah has become a metaphor for
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: wickedness and for sinfulness. And there in Ezekiel chapter 16,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: we see the term being used metaphorically, and he speaks
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: about a lack of hospitality there in Ezekiel chapter 16.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: And a lot of people use that as a proof
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: text to come back and say, see what we're talking
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: about there in Sodom and Gomorrah is explained in Ezekiel
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: chapter 16. And it was really about hospitality. Well, you know,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: that's not the only place it's talked about. How about
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Jude verse 7? Listen to what Jude says. Jude verse 7.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve an example
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: the Lord. Argument over. The Bible clearly teaches that the
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: sin of Sodom... And Gomorrah was the sin of sodomy.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: That's what we're dealing with here. That's why there was
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: hellfire and brimstone. That's what's going on here. It was
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: not some other sort of nuanced thing happening. It was clear.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: And the author goes out of his way to make
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: himself clear. As clear as he can possibly be without
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: getting graphic. We see the clarity there in a number
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: of ways. Number one, because of the terminology that he uses.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: These men come out and say, we want to know them. Folks,
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: if you've been paying attention from Genesis 1 all the
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: way up to where we are in Genesis chapter 19,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: you are well aware of what that phrase means. We
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: want to know them. And in case that was not enough,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Lot comes back out and says, don't do this wickedness.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: He refers to it as wickedness. So now we got
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: clue number two. Here's clue number three. It's horrible that
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Lot does this, and we'll get to that in a moment.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: But clue number three is, in case you were wondering
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: if that, we're talking about sodomy here, in case you
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: were wondering if that's why these individuals are beating down
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: the door, first, the terminology used, second, referring to it
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: as wickedness, and thirdly, Lot basically saying, I'd rather you
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: guys do that to my daughters than to these two men.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: And in case those three things in the text are
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: not enough, Then just let Scripture interpret Scripture. We come
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: to the New Testament, and Jude makes it as clear
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: as day. It was sexual immorality, and it was pursuing
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: unnatural desires. The sin of Sodom was sodomy. It was homosexuality.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: That's what we're dealing with here. The Bible is unambiguous
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: as to whether or not that's sin. Absolutely unambiguous. Here's
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: the second thing. The sin of Sodom was especially and
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: uniquely heinous. The sin of Sodom was especially and uniquely heinous.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: It's not like other sins. And I say that and
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: we get sort of uncomfortable because, well, I thought all
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: sins were the same. Really listen to Jesus in John
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: chapter 19 verse 11. Jesus answered him, you would have
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: no authority over me at all unless it had been
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: to you has the greater sin. Interesting. Common American church
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: culture believes all sins are equal. Jesus disagrees. He believes
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: there are some sins that are greater than others. The
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Bible does not teach that all sins are equal. Some
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: sins are greater than others. Some things are more wicked
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: than other things. We're told not to worry or be
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: anxious about anything. Trust me, the sin of worry is
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: not equal to the sin of murder. How can we
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: say that with a straight face? Now, if if what
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: we're trying to communicate is that for individuals who are
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: without God, for individuals who are without Jesus Christ, for
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: individuals who are unregenerate, for individuals who are not saved,
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: they will die and they will be separated from God forever,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: regardless of what sins, in particular, they have committed, then amen, hallelujah,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: praise the Lord, that is absolutely true. There are some
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: sins that are more heinous than others. And this is
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: one in particular. The sin of homosexuality is particularly heinous.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: And by the way, we already know that by Genesis
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: chapter 19. Why do we already know that by Genesis
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: chapter 19? Here's a couple of things. Just if all
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: we've got is Genesis. Number one, we know that this
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: sin is a perversion of the created order. It's a
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: perversion of the created order. You just go back to
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, and it does
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: was not what God had in mind. Amen? It's a
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: perversion of the created order. Secondly, it's a perversion of
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: the procreation command. First command in the Bible, Genesis 128,
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: be fruitful and multiply. This sin is a perversion because
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: it makes it impossible for us to do what God's
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: commanded us to do. God has given us marriage. God
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: has given us the relations between men and women in
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: marriage for specific purposes. And chief among them is procreation. Now, again,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I have to put a footnote here. We have to
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: be very careful. Because here's what happens oftentimes when people
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: make this argument. We go out there and we're making
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: the argument in the culture and we say, well, no,
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: that's just not right. And it's just not right because, well,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: you know, they can't have children. And all of a sudden,
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: the homosexual advocate says, He's licking his chops. He loves
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: that line of argumentation because he turns right back around
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: and he says, oh, wait a minute. So you're saying
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: that really sex is for procreation. So there are two
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: things that you just told me you believe. Number one,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: you believe it's inappropriate for a man and a wife
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: to ever engage in that activity unless it's for the
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: purpose of procreation. And number two, you just told me
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: that two people in their 60s, if they're widowed, they
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: shouldn't be allowed to get married. Why? Because they're too
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: old to procreate. And then we just sit there and
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: we go, be very careful when we make that argument. Now,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: did I just say we shouldn't make that line of argumentation?
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: That's not what I said at all. It's not what
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: I said at all for a couple of reasons. Number one,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: because it is a categorical. By categorical, here's what I mean.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: That categorically, God has designed men and women to be
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: able to procreate. As a category. Does that mean that
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: it always occurs? Nope. Doesn't mean that it always occurs.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: God hasn't designed it that way for it to always occur.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: One of the reasons God hasn't designed it for it
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: to always occur that way, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 gives
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: us a clue. Paul makes it very clear that we
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: are not to deprive one another sexually because the enemy
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: uses that against us because there are certain desires that
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: we have that God intended to be satisfied in the
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: context of a marital relationship. Now the category is man-woman
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: because that leads us to procreation. The activity is appropriate
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: because God tells us clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 7
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: that he's... particular activity in order for us to have
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: a place where we can live in righteousness and holiness
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: and yet still satisfy those desires that God gave us.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: By the way, He gave us the desires because it's
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: those desires that lead to procreation. So don't be afraid
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: to make that argument. Thirdly, not only is it a
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: perversion of the created order and a perversion of the
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: procreation command But it's also perversion of the promise. Remember
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: what we've been talking about in the life of Abraham?
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Remember what we've been talking about since Genesis chapter 3
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: and verse 15? The proto-euangelion, the first proclamation of the
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: gospel there in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 is
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: about the seed of the woman crushing the head of
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: the serpent, the seed of the serpent. So from then on,
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: what's the serpent trying to do? He's trying to kill
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: the seed from then on. That's what the serpent wants
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: to do. That is the work of the devil. That
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: is the work of the serpent, to kill the seed.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: What a better way to kill the seed than to
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: send women with women and men with men. You do that,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: no chance the promised Messiah is ever going to come.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: This is another tool of the adversaries. in order to
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: avoid the fulfillment of the promise of the coming of
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: the Messiah. So it's a perversion of the created order.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: It's a perversion of the procreation command. It's also a
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: perversion of the promise. So even before we have the law, folks...
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: And this is the thing, because people often make this argument, oh, well,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: you know, actually, you find that in Leviticus, and that's
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: the law, and we're no longer under the law, and
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: so you can't go to the law. Well, first of all, yes,
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: you absolutely can go to the law. God's moral law
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: is transcendent. But secondly, this is before the Levitical law,
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: and they're getting wiped off the face of the earth
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: for it before the Levitical law. The sin of Sodom
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: was sodomy. The sin of Sodom was especially and uniquely heinous.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: Here's the other thing. The sin of Sodom was ubiquitous.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Look at what he says here in verse 4. I
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: want you to grasp this. I hadn't noticed this before.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, it really hadn't just dawned on me before
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: like it did in my preparation. But look with me
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: at verse 4. But before they lay down, notice how
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: quickly this happens. He's in the city gates. You almost
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: get this picture. You almost get the picture that Lot
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: sees these guys coming and he goes, uh-oh. Because there's
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: no way that this is new. You follow me on that?
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: There's no way this is new. And these guys are
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: coming and Lot's at the city gate and Lot says, um,
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: y'all need to come to my house. No, we're going
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: to go to the city center. Uh-uh. Y'all need to
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: come to my house. Now, please... And the text says
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: in verse 4, before they lay down, someone spotted them
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: on the way to Lot's house. And by the time
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: they had eaten and before they lay down, listen, look
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: at the next part of this. The men of the city.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: And remember, we've talked about this before. We've talked about
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: this rhetorical device of saying something three times in three
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: different ways in order to make your point. In email terminology,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: that's bold, italics, and underline all in the same phrase.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: That's what he does here. He says, the men of Sodom.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Good to stop there, but he didn't. Both young and old.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Good to stop there, but he didn't. All the people
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: to the last man. You know what that ought to
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: bring to mind? Ought to bring to mind last week. God,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: what if there's 50? Okay, what if there's 45? Sure.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: What if there's 40? Okay. What if there's 30? What
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: if there's 10? Sure. There's not. The text says every
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: man in the city. Just think about that for a moment.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, we all know that there are parts of town,
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: that there are parts of the country. We all know,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll never forget, you know, I was in
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: San Francisco and I was preaching at Golden Gate Seminary.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: And one of the professors there at Golden Gate took
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: me to this neat little place there in Marin County
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: in San Francisco. And we go to this little place,
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: and it's a place where they have these old, old records,
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: you know, there's like old jazz records and stuff from
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: the 20s and 30s and 40s, and these old magazines.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: He knew I liked that sort of thing. And so
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: I got some copies of Life Magazine and stuff like
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: that from the 20s and 30s and 40s. And you
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: try to find, issues from when certain things happened, when
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: World War II first kicked off and all this sort
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: of stuff. I am engrossed. I'm absolutely amazed. I'm going
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: through this stuff, and I cannot believe it. I'm pulling
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: things out. Oh, Jasmine would love this. Bridget would love this.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Trevor would love this. Oh, I can't believe it. You
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: see what year this is? Oh, it's unbelievable. So I
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: got my head down, and I'm doing this, and all
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, there's some fishnet pantyhose and some boots
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: right there. And Eric, big boots. And then I'm going
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: around and you don't think anything of it. And all
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: of a sudden I bump somebody and it's the fishnet
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: pantyhose and the big boots. And I say, oh, excuse me.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: And I hear, no problem. How you doing, sir? And
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: I look up. And all around me, as far as
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: the eye could see inside this door, homosexuals and transvestites.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: Go outside and right next door, there was a salon
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: that was a homosexual and transvestite salon right next door.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going, this is, I'm not in the
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: Bible Belt anymore. Just comment. Nobody thought anything of it.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: that pales in comparison to what happened in Sodom. We're
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: not just talking about a lot of people. We're not
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: just talking about it becoming culturally acceptable. We're talking about
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: this having infected everyone in the culture except Lot. That's
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: what we're talking about here. It was everywhere. It was everywhere.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: It was everywhere. And that just tells me things can
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: and probably will get worse. Amen? It's never been this bad.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Never before, never since was it this bad. Things can
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: get worse. Fourthly, the sin of Sodom even affected righteous lot.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: And don't miss that. The sin of Sodom even affected
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: righteous lot. Why do I call him righteous Lot? If
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: you remember last week, Peter calls him righteous Lot. Do
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: you think this split-second decision that he made about his
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: daughters just came from nowhere? Where did it come from? God?
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. It didn't come from God. Where did it
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: come from? It came from where Lot lives. It came
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: from what Lot has been bathing in. It came from
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: what Lot had absolutely surrounded himself with and become inundated
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: with and become comfortable with. That's where it came from.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Listen to these strong words from one commentator. As the
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: constancy of Lot in risking his own life for the
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: defense of his guests deserves no common praise. And by
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: the way, it does. And he did. He risked his life.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: Lot walks outside and closes the door behind him. And
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: he says, no, don't do this wicked thing. That's courageous.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: And we ought to just say, amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: That's courageous. But just like we should. So now Moses
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: relates that a defect was mixed with the great virtue,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: which sprinkled it with some imperfection. For being destitute of advice,
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: he devised, as is usual, in intricate affairs, and unlawful remedy.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: What an understatement. He does not hesitate to prostitute his
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: own daughters that he may restrain the indomitable fury of
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: the people. But he should rather have endured a thousand
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: deaths than have resorted to such a measure. Amen. Hallelujah.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. He should rather have endured a thousand deaths.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: It's not appropriate for him to do that. But where
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: does something like that come from? Where else could it
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: have come from? What's amazing here is that Lot lives
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: in this stuff and he's got two virgin daughters. That's
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: what's amazing here. But evidently, according to the culture here
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: in Sodom, they were pretty safe. And yet he devises
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: this scheme. And remember, he's referred to as righteous Lot.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: I want you to understand something. Here's what I want
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: you to hear on this. It is real easy for
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: us to look at this type of behavior and look
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: at this type of sin and look at it in
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: this sort of pompous, self-righteous way. But I want you
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: to know that the encroachment of our culture in this
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: area is affecting us. It has affected some more than
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: it has affected others, but it has affected us. Trust
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: me when I tell you this. Had I grown up
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: 50 or 100 years ago and been in that store
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: in San Francisco? When I looked up, I probably would
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: have just passed out. My brain would have just short-circuited
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: and I would have just passed out. Can you imagine
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: somebody 100 years ago standing up in that store? They
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: just probably would have just died on the spot, just
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: killed them on the spot. Me, not so much. I
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: was surprised by the number. I was surprised by the magnitude.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: But quite frankly... Not really surprised by the behavior much anymore.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: It's everywhere. I'm affected by it. You are affected by it.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: But there are different levels of being affected by it.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Listen to a couple of these things. This is from
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: Lisa Miller. Lisa Miller is the religion writer for Newsweek.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: And in the December 6th edition, this was our Christmas
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: present from Newsweek, she wrote an article, Marriage, Our Mutual Joy.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: And listen to what she says here about marriage in
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: this Newsweek article. This is Newsweek, okay? This is the
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: big guns. This is Newsweek. You got time. You got Newsweek.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: This is Newsweek. The Bible does condemn gay male sex
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: between men as an abomination. King James Version she has
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: here in parentheses, which in and of itself is a misrepresentation.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: King James is not the only place where you find that.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: But she puts that in parentheses so people will think,
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: you know, the archaic version of the Bible. But these
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: are throwaway lines in a particular text given over codes
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: For living in the ancient Jewish world. A text that, no, no,
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: throw away lines, she says. A text that devotes verse
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanness rituals, for menstruating women.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: and the correct way to sacrifice a goat or a
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices. Our modern understanding
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Our modern understanding
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Now listen, I
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: don't heed Leviticus on the sacrificial system, but not because
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: I'm too sophisticated. but because Christ has fulfilled that part
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: of the law. She says it's because we're more sophisticated
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: than people in Bible times. There's never been a man
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: on the face of the earth that has probably been
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: as sophisticated, never been a man that's been as sophisticated
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: as Adam was. Never. Never. Who would have been more
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: sophisticated than Adam? Nobody. Just by virtue of how long
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: he lived and by virtue of him having been created
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: in the perfect environment as the perfect man. You put
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: the perfect man in the perfect environment and let him
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: live some 900 years, nobody will ever be as sophisticated
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: as him. Ever. Nor are those in his first 10 generations.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: But she says it's because we're more sophisticated. Listen to
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: this also. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave? Now,
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: I want you to notice that she goes to the
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: slavery issue. And I want you to see something here. Again,
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: bear with me. We won't do this much longer. But
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: you have to know this. That was by design. This book,
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: I may have referred to this book to you before.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: It's called After the Ball, How America Will Conquer Its
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s. This book
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: was published in 1989. It's important to keep that in
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: mind for a couple of reasons. Number one, because it's
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: now 20 years later, and this book is just absolutely
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: pressing it. What we've seen over the last 20 years
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: is the program outlined in this book 20 years ago
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: by these two authors. Here's the second thing, the reason
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: that it's important that it happened in 1989. In 1988,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: there was a meeting of the 140 leading homosexual advocates
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: in order to devise a strategy for how they would
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: deal with homosexuality in the United States. I want you
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: to hear a couple of these things. Listen to what
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: they say. Here, this is in the first chapter. AIDS,
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: though a loose canon, is a canon indeed. As cynical
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: as it may seem, AIDS gives us a chance, however brief,
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: to establish ourselves as a victimized minority legitimately deserving of
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: America's special protection and care. Listen to this. The campaign
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: we outline in this book, though complex, depends centrally upon
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: a program of unabashed propaganda firmly grounded in long-established principles
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: of psychology and advertising. One of the tools they use
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: is a tool called jamming. Jamming is the way that
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: they make people feel guilty about their negative opinions of homosexuals.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: Listen to this. All normal people feel shame when they
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: perceive that they are not thinking, feeling, or acting like
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: one of the pack. And these days, all but the
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: stupidest and most unregenerate of bigots perceive that prejudice against
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: all other minority groups, for example, blacks, Jews, and Catholics,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: and women, has long since ceased to be approved, let
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: alone fashionable, and that to express such prejudice, if not
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: to hold them, makes one decidedly not one of the pack.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: So what's their idea? Always talk about homosexuality in the
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: context of blacks, Jews, or other oppressed minorities that's part
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: of the jamming procedure that was outlined in this book
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: in 1989 and what does Lisa Miller do at the
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: end of her paragraph about homosexuality in her article in
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: Newsweek at the end of 2008 she identifies the issue
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: of homosexuality with the issue of slavery And in other words,
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: if you believe what the Bible says in Leviticus about homosexuality,
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: then you are as bigoted as individuals who used to
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: use the Bible to justify slavery. That did not come
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: out of left field. That came out of a field manual.
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: That was designed to desensitize our culture on the issue
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: of homosexuality. And this book is line by line by
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: line the program of propaganda that we have seen over
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: the last 20 years. And it has been so effective
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: that now a man who is a professed alcoholic, who
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: abandoned his wife, who has no theological merit, who has
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: no pastoral merit, is being propped up at the inauguration
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: today simply because he's a groundbreaker who was the first
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: homosexual to be named bishop by the Episcopal Church. Don't
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: you think for a moment that this is not a
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: pitch battle. Well, that's just Lisa Miller, isn't it? How
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: about this? Terry Davis, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hartford, Connecticut,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: has been presiding over Holy Union since 1992. Listen to
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: what he says. I'm against promiscuity. Love ought to be
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: expressed in committed relationships, not through casual sex. And I
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: think the church should recognize the validity of committed same-sex relationships.
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: That's a Presbyterian pastor. How about this from Walter Brueggemann?
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: Walter Brueggemann is a well-known theologian. Walter Brueggemann is a
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: emeritus professor at Columbia Theological Seminary. Excuse me. And he
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: quotes the Apostle Paul when he looks for biblical support
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: for gay marriage. Here's what Brueggemann says. There is neither
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: you are all one in Jesus Christ. The religious argument
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: for gay marriage, he adds, is not generally made with
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: reference to particular texts. Now, this is the religious argument
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: for gay marriage Brueggemann is talking about. I had to
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: read Brueggemann as a theology student, okay? The argument for
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: gay marriage is not made with particular text, but with
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: the general conviction that the Bible is bent toward inclusiveness.
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: Listen to Miller again, and then we'll read a couple
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: passages of Scripture. Here's the other line of argumentation that
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: people use. We're just talking about a couple of obscure verses. Leviticus.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: By the way, that line is almost a direct quote
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: of our president-elect, who on March 5th said this, I
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: don't think same-sex unions should be called marriage, but I
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: think that it is a legal right. that they should
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: have that is recognized by the state. If people find
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: that controversial, then I would just refer them to the
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind,
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: President-elect Barack Obama. Listen to how Miller treats this issue,
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: and then we'll look at these texts and we'll close.
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: Paul was tough on homosexuality, though Recently, progressive scholars, don't
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: you just love that? Progressive scholars have argued that his
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: condemnation of men who were inflamed with lust for one another,
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: which he calls a perversion, is really a critique of
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: the worst kind of wickedness, self-delusion, violence, promiscuity, and debauchery.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: In his book, The Arrogance of Nations, the scholar, Neal Elliott,
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: notice how they refer to it, the scholar, the scholar, Now,
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: if they were talking about John Piper, they wouldn't say
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: the scholar. They'd say the reverend, the pastor. Why? Because
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: those are catchphrases for people out there. Catchphrase, if they
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: call you the reverend or the pastor, this is just
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: some fundamentalist who just got a Bible thumper. He's not
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: really intelligent. He's just a guy who has real, you know,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: he's just got faith. He believes real hard. But here
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: they use the term scholar. That's a catchphrase, and you
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: need always be leery when people use that phrase, scholar.
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: Neil Elliott argues that Paul is referring in this famous
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: passage to the depravity of the Roman emperors, the craven
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: habits of Nero and Caligula, a reference his audience would
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: have grasped instantly. Paul is not talking about what we
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: call homosexuality at all, Elliott says. He's talking about a
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: certain group of people who have done everything in this list.
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: We're not dealing with anything like gay love or gay
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: marriage here. We're talking about really, really violent people who
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: meet their end and are judged by God. In any case,
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: one might add, Paul argued more strenuously against divorce, and
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: at least half of the Christians in America disagree and
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: disregard that teaching. By the way, that's just a blatant
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: lie by Lisa Miller in Newsweek. That half of Christians
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: disagree with Paul on the issue of whether or not
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: divorce is wrong. That's a blatant lie. But what does
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: the Bible teach? Let's look at a few passages here
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: and then make a couple comments and we'll be done.
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: Look at me, Leviticus chapter 18. And it's important to
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: remember these. Remember, Genesis 19, Leviticus 18, when you're talking
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: about the Old Testament. Look at Leviticus 18, 22. You
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: shall not lie with a male as with a woman.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: It is an abomination. Turn over to Leviticus chapter 20
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: and verse 13. Just one page, if you will. If
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: a man lies with a male as with a woman,
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: be put to death. Their blood is upon them. They
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: Now I want to show you something that people often
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: overlook in Romans chapter 1. New Testament, we start with
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: Romans chapter 1. Let's go there. Because remember the argument is,
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: there's some obscure verses in the Old Testament, but you
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: really don't have anything in the New Testament that openly
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: and clearly condemns homosexuality. Look at Romans chapter 1. Let's
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: look at 26-27. First, let's go back to verse 24.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: Verse 24. Therefore God gave them up in the lust
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Not a
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: reference to homosexuality there. It is a reference, however, to
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: sexual impurity and lust. Now, I only point that out
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: because the argument is that this next paragraph is about
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: wicked Roman emperors and it's not about common practice. Look
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: at verse 26. For this reason God gave them up
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged the natural relations
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: for those that are contrary to nature. And the men
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men,
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: By the way, does the New Testament lighten up on
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: God's seriousness regarding homosexuality? Look at verse 32. Though they
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: to die, where does he get that from? Leviticus chapter 20.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: He doesn't think it's irrelevant. They not only do them,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: but give approval to those who practice them. Beyond Romans 1,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: I want you to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Let's look at 9 through 11 here.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 9 through 11. Or do you
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral,
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: So much for it can't change. In the first century,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: there were people who used to be gay, and then
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: they weren't anymore because God got a hold of them. Amen?
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: Such were some of you, but you were washed, you
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: He didn't say, you used to practice these things, but
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: it was just the far out versions, and now you're
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: nice and loving with it. No, he says, you're not
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: that anymore. You were, but now you're not. Turn with
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: me also to 1 Timothy 1, 9-11. 1 Timothy 1.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: 9 through 11. Go back to verse 8, actually. Now
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: we know that the law is good if one uses
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: it lawfully. Understanding this, that the law is not laid
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient,
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane,
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: for those... who strike their fathers and mothers for murderers,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers. By the way,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: does the New Testament condone slavery? No, it doesn't. It
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: puts it in the same category as homosexuality. But you'd
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: never know that reading people like Lisa Miller. You would
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: never know that it was in fact New Testament Christians
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: whose worldview gave the impetus for the end of slavery. Evildoers, liars, perjurers,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 2: and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: with the gospel and the glory of the blessed God
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: with which I have been entrusted. Are these obscure references?
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: Are these just references to the worst kinds of homosexuality?
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: Here's another thing that I want you to note. Virtually
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: everywhere in the New Testament where you read these words
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: about homosexuality, sexual immorality is right there with it. It's grievous.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: It's heinous. And it is absolutely accepted in our culture.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: I want you to read one more passage of Scripture.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: This one doesn't refer directly to homosexuality, but here's what
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: I want you to see. Look at Matthew chapter 19,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: beginning at verse 3. Matthew chapter 19, beginning at verse 3.
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: And Pharisees came up to him, Jesus, and tested him
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: any cause? He answered, Have you not read that he
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: who created them from the beginning made them male and female?
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: Jesus' teaching on marriage is based in the creation order.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: He who made them from the beginning made them male
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: and female and said, Therefore a man shall leave his
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: the two shall become one flesh. So they are no
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: let man not separate. They said to him, Why then
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: and to send her away? He said to them, because
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 2: your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: for sexual immorality. Notice that it doesn't say adultery there.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: Except for sexual immorality and marries another, commits adultery. Except
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: for sexual immorality. The word there is pornea. The Greek
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: word is pornea. It's not the word for adultery. Although
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: that's common in the discussion among Christians, that adultery is
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: a cause for divorce and remarriage. The word is not adultery.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: The word is sexual immorality. And that word for sexual
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: immorality goes back to the morality codes of Leviticus. Now,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: because of this, And we don't have near enough time
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: to deal with all of this this morning, but just
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: bear with me for a moment here, and you'll understand
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: the line of argumentation. There are several schools of thought
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: on divorce and remarriage. I want to talk to you
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: about one of them. That's the school of thought that
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: says the Bible does not allow for divorce and remarriage
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: under any circumstances. Under any circumstances. That's the position of
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: this church, by the way, that the Bible does not
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: allow for divorce and remarriage under any circumstances. The argument
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: is based on the fact that this word used here
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: is pornea. He uses this word for sexual immorality, not
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: the word for adultery. A couple of things are very
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 2: interesting here. Number one, you don't see this clause anywhere
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: else in the New Testament. where divorce is spoken of.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: You don't see this clause when Jesus talks about this,
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 2: for example, in Luke, or when he talks about it
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: in Mark. You don't see this clause except for pornea.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: You only see it in Matthew. Now, why would you
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: see this pornea clause only in Matthew? Well, because the
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: pornea clause most commonly refers to betrothal and not marriage.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: In other words, if you find out during your betrothal
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: period that that number one, your intended is not a virgin,
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: then you may break the betrothal, which, by the way,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: was a legally binding contract. You could break the betrothal
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: if you found out that this individual was not a virgin.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: Number two, if you found out that you were too
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: closely related according to the Levitical code, well, to marry
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: would be sexually immoral, so you may break the betrothal
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: during that time. Several other things. Now, why would Matthew
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: bring the pornea code into play and not the other Gospels?
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: Because Matthew's the only one who has a discussion about
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 2: Joseph putting Mary away during the betrothal. That's why he's
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: the only one who talks about the pornea code. Because
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 2: he's the only one who talks about that. You don't
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: find that in the rest of the narratives about the
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 2: birth of Christ. Only in Matthew, and therefore only in Matthew,
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: you have this reference to the porneia code. Now what
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: does that have to do with what we're talking about?
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: Here's what it has to do with what we're talking about.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: Jesus recognized sexual immorality the same way Moses did. What
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: Moses says was sexually immoral. Jesus says was sexually immoral.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: And he actually points to these morality codes that we
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: find in Leviticus when he makes his statement in Matthew
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: chapter 5. and reiterates in Matthew chapter 19. And ironically,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: Matthew chapter 5, that's the Sermon on the Mount, which
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: President-elect says is the place where you go to justify
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: homosexual marriage. Folks, you can't get there from here. It
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: can't justify homosexuality anyhow, anyway, from the Old Testament or
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: from the New Testament. And here's the problem specifically with
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: the justification of homosexuality. Think about this for a moment.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: God uses Sodom and Gomorrah as an example. And the
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: names of those twin cities are used throughout the rest
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: of the Bible as a warning, a warning. God demonstrates
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: his righteousness and he demonstrates his wrath and he gives
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 2: a warning for the rest of the time of history.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: And he warns them, you remember these people who were
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: sexually immoral? You remember what I did because of their immorality?
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 2: He reminds us of who he is and that he's
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: the God who's going to judge again and ultimately and finally.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: Here's what's so pernicious about the promotion of homosexuality. We
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: take what is the ultimate warning in the Old Testament
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: and basically say, God was wrong about that. That really
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: wasn't what it was about. That really wasn't what upset God.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 2: And even if it did, he was the cruel God
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: of the Old Testament and not the God of the
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 2: New Testament. What's the danger in that? Here's the danger
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: in that. Sodom and Gomorrah is supposed to make your
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: ears perk up when you read Revelation. Amen? Amen? It's
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 2: supposed to remind you not that we've been told about
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: the judgment that is to come, but that we've been
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: warned about a judgment that is to come by the
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: God who turned those cities into ashes. That's why it's
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: so pernicious. So do I believe that we ought to
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: bash homosexuals? Do I believe? Absolutely not. And I hope
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: you don't see that as what has happened here today.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: Not at all. That is not my position at all.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: But my position is we must hold fast to the
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: truth of Scripture. And my position is also this. In
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: our day and in our culture, this is the front
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: line of the battle as far as the encroachment of
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 2: the evil one on the truth of the Scriptures. And
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: we should not be surprised because what does Jude say? Beloved,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: while I was making every effort to write to you
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 2: about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 2: to you, urging you to contend earnestly for the faith,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: which was once for all handed down to the saints.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 2: Why was this important? Jude says, because certain persons have
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: crept in unnoticed. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: God into lawlessness and deny our only Master and Lord,
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Isn't that interesting? They creep into the church,
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 2: identify themselves as Christians. They turn grace into lawlessness, justifying sin,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Well,
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: here's the rest of the story about what's happening today.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 2: with Bishop Robinson. Not only is he a bishop who
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 2: turns grace into lawlessness by being an alcoholic, homosexual, who
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 2: abandoned his wife and then is called bishop. He turns
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: the grace of our God into lawlessness. He also denies
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: our only Lord and Master Jesus Christ because the bishop
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: has said, I looked at inaugural prayers over the last
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 2: 30 or 40 years and was amazed at how aggressively
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 2: Christian they were. That's the word he used. Aggressively Christian.
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 2: Not overtly Christian. Aggressively Christian. Aggressive is a negative term.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: Overtly Christian. You're just making an observation. He says they
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: were aggressively Christian. So when I pray, I am not
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: going to pray in Jesus' name. Not even going to
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: pray to the God of the Bible. I am going
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 2: to pray... to the God of our understanding, which is
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 2: terminology he learned in Alcoholics Anonymous. Those who have crept
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: in unnoticed, ungodly persons, were marked out for this condemnation,
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 2: who turned the grace of our God into lawlessness, And
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. What's the
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 2: big deal? Here's the big deal. The homosexual looks at
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 2: Gene Robinson and says, I'm okay. When instead what he
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 2: needs to hear is, hey, Genesis 19, God's serious about this. Repent. Believe.
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 2: Come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. According to
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9-11. can save you from this
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 2: and can deliver you from this and can give you
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: wholeness and healing and use you for His glory. And
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: instead of hearing that, what they're hearing from individuals like
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: Lisa Miller and individuals like Walter Brueggemann and individuals like
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 2: Brian McLaren is, you are okay in your sin. I
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 2: ask you this question, who loves them more? Who loves
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 2: them more? The one who will beg them with tear-stained
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: eyes to repent and come out of their wicked lifestyle?
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 2: Or the one who says to them, you know what?
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: The Bible really doesn't mean what it says when it
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: talks about that. You're actually okay. I don't think so.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm grieved. I'm grieved. My heart breaks over what's
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 2: happening this day in our land. Isaiah says, woe to
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 2: you who call wicked good. Woe to you. I'm afraid
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 2: for us. Not afraid for me. I know where I'm going.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 2: But I'm afraid for us. I love my brothers and sisters.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 2: My fellow Americans absolutely love them. And because of that,
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 2: I'll continue to preach this truth regardless of what it costs.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 2: Because what we desperately need is not to become more
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 2: tolerant of what God calls wicked. But what we desperately
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 2: need is a word from the Lord and individuals who
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 2: will without compromise and without venom proclaim that truth. and
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: the gospel, which is the only answer. I just encourage you,
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: I admonish you, I beg you to be that people.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: I plead with you. I know this has been long
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 2: and maybe in some areas laborious, but I absolutely believe
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 2: that this is crucial. I absolutely believe that every person
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 2: under the sound of my voice has people close to
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 2: you were struggling with homosexuality people in your family were
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 2: struggling with homosexuality or worse were not struggling a man
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 2: it just given it no longer struggle everyone you into
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 2: the sound of my voice as people in your family
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 2: or people who are close to you who look at
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 2: you and call you evil because you believe we just
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: talked about here today and every one of us has
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: a tendency to recoil I want you to know That's
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: part of the strategy. This is one of the hardest
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 2: books I've ever read. Not because the words were big
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 2: and not because it was hard to get through. It's
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: actually a pretty easy read. But because every five minutes
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: I was going, I'm through. Look at one more page.
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 2: Look at one more page. It's real. It's here. It's heinous.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 2: It's costly.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to the podcast for gracefamilybaptist.net.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 2: Grace Family Baptist.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: Church is located in Spring, Texas. For any questions or
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: comments regarding Grace Family Baptist Church, call toll free at
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: 877-651-8814 or go online to gracefamilybaptist.net