Paul Carrington's sermon, 'The Moral Revolution: Homosexuality,' addresses the rapid moral changes concerning homosexuality in America and their implications for Christians. He emphasizes that the issue is fundamentally about overturning God's design and order, equating it to a matter of worship. The sermon references biblical teachings, notably the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, to illustrate the perceived moral decline and the encroaching darkness facing the church. Carrington discusses various misconceptions, such as the idea that people are born homosexual or that gay marriage is equivalent to traditional marriage. He highlights the need for Christians to respond with truth, compassion, and respect while upholding biblical teachings and sharing the gospel. The speaker underscores the importance of repentance and the power of God to save, urging the church to be a light in the present cultural climate.

Well, good afternoon. This afternoon we continue with our subject of really the moral revolution in this series called Pulling Down Strongholds. And this afternoon we're going to be dealing with homosexuality. And if you remember from last week, we focused on how did we even get to the point that we're at right now as a nation, as a culture, even some of the things that are happening in the church. And we covered off a lot of that.

And we'll talk briefly about that at the beginning. And then what we'll do is we'll go into the actual subject of homosexuality itself. And as our brother mentioned previously, we're not going to say more than what Scripture says about it. We're not going to be getting into any details that we shouldn't, But really, really deal with the issue as the Bible does. And so, you know, last week, what we saw, I think primarily what we were trying to communicate is that we're, we're in a spiritual battle, and it manifests itself in this, in this physical realm that we live.

And it's shocking because in what appears to be record time, America as a nation has really become the epicenter of a moral revolution that I would argue is probably the most significant moral revolution in history. You know you look at other countries they were just washed over like places in Europe or even places like in Canada, but America still has, it seems to be, some sort of remnant church. There's some sort of force that is standing against just this tidal wave that's coming, And so we want to talk a little bit about that. But it's doubtful that any nation in the history of the world either has been endowed with more than the United States. And so even though, even though it's on this trajectory towards following many other nations, it's been given much, much more.

And so we really want to take heed to the things that the Lord has spoken to us and not let them slip. But what this isn't, this is not a battle about conservatism and progressivism or between moralism versus liberalism. What we're talking about here, the heart of the revolution, is really this fundamental attempt or commitment to overturning the order that God has put in place, overturning God's design at the very beginning. And So at root what we're dealing with here is worship. And so we want to continue really thinking about this as a matter of worship.

And if you think about it, you know, a few months or maybe a year ago, I think it might have been, children, you'll remember this, our brother was leading us through the Catechism. And the Westminster Catechism states what God's highest purpose is for man. And the very first question that it asks is, what is the chief end of man? And the Christian response to that is man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. But the catechism of the world, as a man by the name of Paris Rehead when he spoke about humanism, he says that the chief end of being is the happiness of man apart from God.

That's what man states to be his answer to the question, what is man's chief end? In his rebellion, my own happiness trumps everything else. And anything that comes against my happiness and my pursuit of that has to be put down. We talked a lot about that last week where the worldview or the hermeneutic of the church is what sayeth the scriptures or what sayeth the Lord, whereas the human hermeneutic of the world is did God indeed say. And so we're in this war and what's happened is that there's this almost this wrecking ball that has been swung towards the infrastructure of creation and it's we've seen it we talked about some of the areas like evolution and and divorce and even things like birth control that's now manifesting itself in abortion these are the things that kind of laid the groundwork to get us to where we are and just like a building right When you attack the foundation and that building now is no longer stable, it's only a matter of time before things begin to crumble because it's been compromised and that's really what's happened here.

And the perfect climate for decline that we have found ourselves in is this kind of climate of cultural Christianity that takes the benefits of the faith like the family or takes the benefits of the faith like you know the way that we treat one another but doesn't really have the undergirding understanding it's It's not a faith that's rooted in God. It's more one that's rooted in the best that Christianity has to offer. And in a climate like that, where there's not an understanding, that it's God who rules and reigns over every area of life. It's in that climate that we find ourselves today. You know, a good analogy you might think of is like a ship.

And as a nation, it seems like we've gleefully just cut our moorings. And we're floating out in the ocean of just an insane, I would call it an ocean of insanity in a rotten boat. That's kind of the picture that we have before us. You know, I was watching a video from a corporation and they were promoting their whole focus on LGBT and they had this woman speak and this is a direct quote this is what she says quote there's a saying that says the queers and the LGBT folks are like butterflies When you see them out floating about, you know the environment is healthy. That's what they're claiming when you see this.

It's just the perfect picture that we finally arrived at this humanistic level where man reigns, he rules, and we put God where he ought to be. And so this is the situation, this ship that we're on right now, the cry coming from the deck as a shoreline fades from view is, endorse the moral regime, the new moral regime, or get clear out of the way. And so this is the encroaching darkness that the church finds itself in but to me like I said last week this is probably the greatest opportunity the church has because in the midst of the darkness we have the opportunity is to shine as lights in the world. So this is not a time to become discouraged in any way. This is what John Knox says.

He says that the man who stands with God is always in the majority. And we say amen to that. And today we're going to be looking at Genesis chapter 19. But before we do, we're going to meet such a man by the name of Abraham, a man who stood with God irregardless of the circumstances. And you can ask the question, why are we approaching these topics?

Is it really worth? Is it really important to get into that, into all these things that are undergirding our society and swirling around us right now, these currents? Is it really worth it? Well, one of the things we don't want to do is to heap ungodly scorn or send mockery or insults against people that are caught up in these sins or even the ones that are actively promoting these sins. That's not the intent of what we're doing at all.

We have this view as Christians that those who bear the image of God should be dealt with respect. They should be dealt with with compassion, with kindness, just as God has shown towards us. But what we don't want to do is make sin less sinful. We don't want to somehow just paint everything with nice colors. In our day, This particular class of sin that we're dealing with homosexuality This is the only class of sin that I can think of that is requiring unconditional affirmation There's no other class of sin that requires unconditional Affirmation Not only just toleration or acceptance, but you better be ready to affirm what's going on.

And so in Genesis chapter 18, we're going to spend time in Genesis 19, but I thought this is so helpful. It was really helpful for me in looking at the subject and answering the question, Why should we as a church even deal with these issues? And you'll notice, all of us are probably familiar with the conversation that Abraham had with God prior to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, where he started off with there were 50 righteous and 40 righteous, and he goes down the line to 10 righteous. But the whole context of that comes from a conversation a little bit earlier, or the same conversation, but a quote earlier in Genesis chapter 18. And God, the Lord, this is the Lord speaking, and it says there in chapter 18 verse 17 it says, And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?

Since Abraham shall surely become a great mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." And so three angels had come to Abraham. One of them was actually the Lord, arguably the Lord Jesus Christ. He'd come to Abraham, he had cooked for them. These two other angels had left to go to Sodom. And now you have Abraham and the Lord, Jehovah, that I am standing here in his presence.

And this is what the Lord says, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do in regards to Sodom and Gomorrah? He says this, why? He says, for I have known him. Why would I hide it from him? For I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

And the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me and if not I will know." And so God, we've all heard that scripture that Abraham will command his children after him but the whole context of why God is sharing what he's about to share is because he knows Abraham will do this. And so it's almost like he's saying here that I want you Abraham as a father of faith to be able to look at what I'm about to do on the one side to see my great long-suffering. When Abraham has this almost argument with God, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, you see this amazing long suffering of God where this city, these cities have been engaged in the height of perversity, and God is so merciful on the one side. But on the other side there's the idea that judgment is coming. He wants Abraham himself to understand this so that he can train his children.

And this is what we are today. Are we not children of Abraham by faith? And so it's important for us to know these things. On the one side, the severity of God. And on the other side, the great mercy and longsuffering of God, that we would have a good understanding of who he is.

And so I'm gonna read a little bit from Genesis chapter 19. We're gonna fast-forward through the chapter 18 and get right to 19. And so as I mentioned, you have this situation where here's two angels that have come now to the city of Sodom. They've come on this mission to understand what's actually going on. Not that God didn't know what was happening, but this is the way that it's being explained here.

And so today what we're going to be doing is we're going to go through Genesis 19, 1 to 11, and then what we're going to do is we're going to deal with our modern-day the homosexual agenda, which is built on what we saw in Romans 1 when you suppress the truth and unrighteousness the only foundation you have is a debased mind and so the only foundation you can build on is lies And so some of the lies we're going to be dealing with was the lie, I was born gay. Gay is the new black. Another one is God and the gay Christian. We're going to just talk briefly about gay marriage and then the claim Jesus never spoke about homosexuality. And then we'll have some closing thoughts.

And so, as we look at this true account here of what happens to Sodom, this is really a true account, but it serves as a metaphor for all ages. It's a message from God to all ages. It's really the most cataclysmic event that happens, really recorded in Scripture, I think we'll see here today. And so what was happening? Well, we just read Genesis 18, and there was this outcry that had reached up to heaven.

This is the same word, this cry, that was used when Cain killed his brother Abel, and he says that the the blood of your brother is crying out to me from the ground. This cry somehow was this height of injustice, wickedness, and evil was taking place, and so God is coming down to see if this is so. And so all nations were wicked at this time, right? All nations are wicked. We've had the flood.

Men have still plunged themselves into idolatry and other things, but there's a special wickedness about what's taking place in Sodom, this overthrow of God's created order and really the lordship of God, of Christ, that is taking place. And so what's going to happen, what we're going to see here? And so these two angels now are coming now to the city. And we read in verse 1, now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. Somehow we hear a little bit about Lot here and there.

Chapter 13, he pitched his tent. He just pitched his tent toward Sodom. But later we find out he got kidnapped when there was a war, and now what do we find him? Almost in it looks like a seat of civic leadership. There's a lesson there that we can't delve into today, but there's a lot that we can grab right out of this scripture here.

And it says, when Lot saw these two angels, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. We see this humility that he has and he greets these two angels much like Abraham greeted them in the previous chapter, the three angels that visited him. And he said, this is Lot, here now my lords, Please turn into your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early, mark that word, and go on your way." And he makes this offer of hospitality to these men. And hospitality is obviously very, very common in those days and, you know, didn't have hotels or anything like that and so he offers to house him for the evening but notice that that you may rise early and go on your way they're coming towards evening he needs to get them out of the city before sunrise There's this concern you can imagine that's rising in his chest.

He knows what Sodom is about. He could probably at that time as he's there with these three, two other men, probably feel eyes sizing up the situation from other corners of the square. And so you see this here and they said no, but we will spend the night in the open square that wasn't uncommon in those days that you could spend the night in an in an open square but he insisted strongly so they turned turned into him and entered his house, then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate." And that word insisted, gives further evidence that Lot knew the state. Remember, the outcry of the city had already gone up to God. He knows what's going on.

This word insisted. It means he pushed. He pressed. He was to the point of insolence. And it's almost like physical pushing.

That's the level of concern that the Bible's conveying that this man had to get these men out of sight as soon as possible. He knows Sodom and I need to get these man out of sight ASAP. That's really what I think he's trying to communicate here. And so now before they lay down in verse 4, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, where are the men who came to you tonight?

Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." And today you have what I would call homosexual apologists that would take these verses and without cracking a smile would say, well, they just wanted to get acquainted with these men. That's all they wanted to do. That word no, it doesn't actually say no carnally. And so they say that's all they wanted to do, was get to know these men. Why are we making a big deal?

This is not saying anything about homosexuality whatsoever. And what they're capitalizing on is the near total biblical illiteracy that people just don't even know their Bibles and so they spout something like this and men just accept it because that person maybe has a scholar or maybe they have some sort of doctorate or something like that but no basis at all in Scripture. And so all of these gymnastics they do to really distort the plain reading of the Word of God. And it's met with remarkable success after thousands of years of this being understood. Now people are beginning to question it and say well, maybe, maybe that we had it wrong all of these thousands of years.

Maybe the last two thousand years of church history we've made a grave error that we now need to repent of. But here's what we know. This was not your, here's a $50 voucher for Food Lion, a guide to the nearest Walmart, borrow a tool from my garage anytime you like welcome party that they're trying to portray at all. This is, you get to see I think a little bit later the unfathomable wickedness of their heart. And remember that the Bible condemns homosexuality in the context of some of the other most grievous sexual sins as well.

This is not just a light thing at all. And so in verse 6 it goes on to say this, so Lot went out through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See now I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish. Only do not do to these men, only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason that they have come under the roof of my house." And I'm not going to spend any time at all trying to dance around Lot.

This is probably the most horrendous example of what a father should be in the entirety of Scripture. But homosexual apologists, again, they strain credulity in their attempts to get around all of this. They say that it is only when Lot steps out of the house and he says, do not do so wickedly, he begins judging these people who were by all accounts well intentioned, that things take a turn. This is what's happening in our modern day. It's their sin of inhospitality, but it has nothing to do at all with homosexuality, is what's being purported today.

But remember Romans 1, we've talked about that, that they are without excuse. And here's the challenge, right? We saw in Romans 1 that it takes immense energy to suppress the truth. It takes immense energy. It's not just a natural thing.

You actually actively have to continue to do it or it will escape and the conscience will come up to the light through the concrete that you poured over it. Well what they had done, what Lot was doing here, is he was he was awakening their conscience and that's something that men in this state really can't afford it's the unpardonable sin. Judge not. Is it not in our modern day? You can get away with any sin except for the sin of quote judge not.

Don't draw any moral conclusion. As long as you don't do that, you're fine. And so Lot was drawing a moral conclusion, but sin hates restraint. The one thing, especially a sin of this nature hates, is restraint. And so this is what's happening.

A very progressive society you might say, in this day as well. And so they say what? Stand back. This one came in to stay here and he keeps acting as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them.

So they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and he shut the door. And so Lot is rescued. He does committed I think a very despicable sin and with his behavior regarding his daughters. But this mob is just further enraged so these angels likely using super strength reach out grab Lot and pull him in before he's overwhelmed and so you see this happening right Lot is now his house is surrounded probably had a gate people are now jumping over the gate.

Why? Because they want to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And the thing that they could not brook was a man saying, what you're doing is wicked. And it's amazing that even in the spirit of some countries under sway of Sharia law, right now in the state of California, a bill has reached the Senate that makes what they call conversion therapy illegal, meaning that you cannot quote-unquote convert a person from homosexuality, from their born sexual orientation. Just like in Muslim countries you cannot convert by law a Muslim to Christianity.

You cannot convert a homosexuality, homosexual person, to straightness. It's amazing. This is what's going on in our day today. And so we see Lot, he's rescued. And in verse 11 something staggering happens, this is what I wanted to get to.

And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary, trying to find the door. And what do you make of something like this that so far from scattering throughout the city holding their faces, I can't see my eyes, woe is me. What do they do? They double their efforts. They weary themselves in their blind state to try to find the door.

It's staggering to think about. I was trying to think about this from the perspective of angels looking on from heaven and saying This is the state that humanity has fallen into, that they've been smitten with blindness, but so far from falling down and crying out, they double their efforts to commit the atrocity that they had set their heart upon. It's the state of man's heart. It's absolutely ridiculous and terrible. And so Jude says it this way, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

God wanted Abraham and his children to be aware of this and we're children of Abraham. He wants us to be aware of it today. This most ghastly sin, what the Bible calls an abomination, is today demanding celebration at a level that we've never seen in history. And so what do we do with this? Well, what we see, I think first of all, is this, that in spite of thousands and thousands of years, man has really just remained what he always has been, a sinful creature in need of the grace of God.

Man is still man and sin is still sin and despite the seismic shift that's happening in our culture where there's attempts to make entire categories of evil now into moral good, the Word of God stands and that's the foundation that we stand on. And so somehow though it's amazing that from the darkest alleys and gutters of our country, this country, that this so-called quote-unquote alternative lifestyle is now forming really the center of American life. You can't look into the media and not see it somewhere on the front few pages that somehow someone's promoting this or a movie or television or whatever. It's being forced upon an entire culture. And again we mentioned that a lot of the groundwork had been laid previously.

Well, not only was the groundwork laid with, you know, divorce and evolution and all these other ways, but also there was a book written in 1989. And this is a book by the name of after the ball, like a ball, like a dance or some sort of party, after the ball, how America will conquer its fear of hatred, fear and hatred of gays in the 90s. This is a field manual that was written, quote-unquote, to convert American society from what would be considered homophobia to outright celebration. And it was written in 1989. Unless anyone think today that this is some sort of conspiracy theory, Al Moller has written an entire book based on this, Bodhi Balkham speaks a lot about this, John MacArthur.

This is widely known for men that are actually dealing with this issue head-on, this particular book. And it's really reminiscent to me when I'm reading some of the quotes, it's reminiscent to me of the screw-tape letters. These men, the way they're thinking, where you see Uncle Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood guiding men to our Father below, which is Satan. Listen to some of these quotes written by Kirk and Madsen. At least at the outset, this is them writing in 1989, we seek desensitization and nothing more.

You can forget about trying upfront to persuade folks that homosexuality is a good thing, but if you can get them to think that it is just another thing, Meriting no more than a shrug of the shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won. And so this homosexual agenda, it's built on lies, and I'm going to be quoting a few more things from this book here. And As I said earlier, it's built on the foundation, did God indeed say? And it attacks the infrastructure of creation at Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Well, the first lie we're going to deal with is the lie of, I was born this way.

This is the most explosive one, right? This is the one that people seek to put forward, and it's almost now taken for granted. It's almost unchallenged dogma with this religion of homosexuality. There's this assumed proof even that 10% of the entire population is homosexual. That's what's purported.

Zero evidence at all. If anything, it's probably 1% or less of people that actively practice homosexual activity. And it's sin. It's evil. There's men that practice other sins and other evils as well.

But to say that it's somehow I was born this way, well why do they do that? It's the fastest path to acceptance and affirmation, right? But the only nature or orientation all of us have and we all share by nature is what? An orientation to sin. All mankind share the same orientation and it's our innate predisposition to do what is wrong.

And so what is man's greatest trouble? It's his ignorance about his own nature. There's zero evidence for this. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent trying to find what is called the gay gene. Somehow we look at our DNA strands that will be able to find a little piece in there that, oh well that's why people are homosexual because it's actually something they're born with but they will search and search and spend millions and millions and not find it because what does the Bible say?

It's a condition of sin that men have actively gone forward with and even homosexuals themselves listen to this from the same book, to suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen, which they know, is to open the can of worms labeled moral choice and sin, and give the religious intransigence, that's you and I, a stick to beat us with. We can't acknowledge that it's not true. And then they go on to say this, for all practical purposes gay should be considered to have been born gay, even though sexual orientation for most humans seems to be the product of complex interaction of innate predispositions and environmental factors during childhood and early adolescence. This is the actual writers, they acknowledge it, but they purport the lie publicly to just the vast masses that don't know anything about the Word of God and just accept these things to be normal. And so they try to make this whole thing morally neutral.

The other lie, the second lie, is that gay is the new black. This idea that, you know, we can harken back to the 1960s and the same civil war or civil rights battle that went on for blacks to receive their rights is really just the same thing, but now the minority are homosexuals. Super, super effective, very effective. And this strategy is really to talk about homosexuality in the realm of oppressed minorities, right? And they've been very successful in kind of conflating these two things.

Deviancy, this practice with race. And somehow they blur the lines very, very, very cleverly. And so what they can now use are charges of racism. Call someone a bigot if you don't actually accept or tolerate the homosexual lifestyle. And this is what they write in the book, the same book after the ball.

All normal people feel shame when they perceive they are not thinking, feeling, or acting like one of the pack. The trick is to get the bigot into the position of feeling a conflicting twins of shame when his homo hatred surfaces. And so what we know to be true is that ethnicity is innate and unchangeable, right? We know that. You're born with the color of your skin, your race or whatever, that's immutable.

That's an immutable characteristic, but no one is born homosexual. And what do we find at the end of the age when we see in Revelation 7, we see men and women of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue gathered before the throne of God. God has been the one that's created this diversity, if you want to use that word, but homosexuality is an actual choice that men make. So we've seen two lies. One is that I'm born with it.

The other one is that gay is simply the new black and we're fighting and charging on for a civil rights battle ahead of us. That's not true at all. Total lie. Lie number three is this, well what about God and the gay Christian? Does that even exist?

Is that even possible? To have a person who's a homosexual and worshipping God while practicing and involved in this lifestyle. Matthew Vines is a writer who actually wrote a book called God and the Gay Christian, this assumption that there is such a thing in the first place. And he's head of what we call the Reformation Project. It's amazing that he would even use that name.

And right now, at the end of October, he's hosting a conference called Equipped for Change that is focused on LGBTQ inclusion in the church. And this is really, I think, one of the most diabolic because it then goes to the Word of God. It doesn't just say, yes, I'm evil and live with it, but it goes to the Word of God and then tries to lift the scriptures out of their context, twist them, and then promote the word of God as in being in support of this. I mean, you can't get more diabolical than that. Did God indeed say?

That's exactly what this young man is saying. Because even this past week, there was two weeks ago, there was a conference called the Revoice Conference. Some of us might have heard about it. It took place in St. Louis.

And it described itself, the tagline was supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex attracted and other LGBT Christians so that they can flourish while observing the historic Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality. A real eyebrow razor in their tagline. One of their workshops was entitled redeeming queer culture and this is what they say for the sexual minority seeking to submit his or her life fully to Christ and to the historic Christian sexual ethic, queer culture represents a bit of a dilemma. Rather than combing through and analyzing to find which parts are to be rejected, to be redeemed, or to be received with joy, Christians have often discarded the virtues of queer culture, along with the vices, which leaves culturally connected Christians sexual minorities torn between two cultures, two histories, and two communities. So questions that have until now been largely unanswered remain.

What does queer culture have to offer us who follow Christ? And then this question, what queer treasure, honor, and glory will be brought into the New Jerusalem at the end of time? It's breathtaking to see that men would go to this length to twist the scripture and continue in this way to justify their sins and then embrace or claim to embrace a Christian ethic over top of it. But this is exactly what's happening. Well, we meet what I would call another square circle.

If you're a child here sitting before me, try to picture in your mind, you can close your eyes if you want, try to picture in your mind a square circle. We just saw one right there just a second ago with what they call a gay Christian. Well a square circle, another one, would be gay marriage. Like how can you have a square circle? It's impossible.

It's the same way that you cannot have gay marriage. It's impossible to have that. God defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Anything other than that by definition ceases to be marriage. I love the way Vody Balkan put it.

Listen to this, trying to analogize it. He says, let me get this right. I have the right to join the military, but I'm a pacifist. Therefore, I don't really have the right, since it would be repulsive to me. Therefore, we need to establish a pacifist branch of the military so that I can fulfill both my desire to join and my desire not to fight.

This is exactly what's trying to happen with this whole thing of gay marriage. They want to join without actually being married as God has prescribed it, which by definition undermines what marriage actually is. And so this is the problem. But what has been the greatest vehicle to purport this lie? It's been Hollywood.

In 2013, USA Today called Hollywood the best man of gay marriage. And this is another quote from the book, listen to this, in 1989, where we talk, quote, where we talk is important. The average American household watches over seven hours of television daily. Those hours open up a gateway into the lives of straights through which a Trojan horse may be passed. This is the strategy.

Let's use Hollywood. Seven hours they're sitting there just inactively watching stuff on a screen. Let's use this for our advantage. And what do you see today? You can't actually have a sitcom today without a homosexual character or a movie now.

There's all this push to get character. It's crazy. This is what's happening in our modern day. I think what we want to communicate, none of this is accidental. Right?

And so to redefine marriage is by definition to destroy marriage. Because if any relationship can be marriage, marriage ceases to exist. But what is the real aim? Again, we go back to the spiritual war that we're in. The real aim is to destroy the family as God has intended and God has prescribed.

When we get to our last lie today, and there are others but we don't have time to get into all of them, the last one is Jesus never spoke about homosexuality. Right, This is very popular. I've met people that are what you call red letter Christians, right? Show me, show me where Jesus said this. And if you can't actually pick a red letter, you've got a red letter Bible that says he actually said it, then all bets are off.

Doesn't matter who said what. Paul, Paul was a bigot. Abraham, oh that's old test. Moses, hey we have we want nothing to do with him. Let's only pick the red letters and that's the only thing we bind ourselves by.

And so they had this argument, Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, except he did. There's their problem. This problem, this argument is riddled with a thousand errors, this whole argument. First of all, guess what? Who was the one speaking to Abraham, just a few minutes ago, when we're looking in Genesis 18, saying, I'm gonna go and destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It was the Lord Jesus Christ speaking with Abraham saying this is what I'm about to do but Lord if there's 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, and what does he end up doing? He destroys the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. So that argument's not very strong if you're going to say Jesus didn't say anything about homosexuality. Number two, he's a member of the Trinity. Right, if you begin to parse that through and go deeply, you're going to find people that don't actually believe in historical biblical Christ.

They'll think of him as a good moral teacher. But he's part of the Trinity, and he's the author of Leviticus. He's the word of God, as we read in John 1.1. And Leviticus says, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman, it is an abomination. So to somehow try to separate Jesus from the rest of scripture is that you're going down a slippery slope right there because again, he is part of the Trinity, a member of the Trinity, and he's the one that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so he spoke of marriage as well. He also spoke of marriage. But not only that, he roots his definition of marriage going right back to Genesis chapter 2 as between one man and one woman. He says, have you not read that he made them at the beginning? He made them male and female with the end goal of them being one flesh.

So he spoke very plainly on marriage. There's so many things you could get into if you start using this logic of did Jesus say about this or that, you're getting into all sorts of other even, you know, gross, gross sins that, you know, can't go beyond our imagination when you start acting like that. And so we've looked at Genesis 19 and we've looked at these lies that have been put forward as things that the mostly all of the culture I would say 99% or 95% of the culture just kind of I guess that makes sense shrugs towards but when we go back to the Word of God we see an altogether different response but what should our heart be We talked about this I think last week. What should our heart be towards fellow men and women who are either forcefully putting this forward as an alternative lifestyle or those that are deceived and trapped in it. I think 1st Corinthians chapter 6 helps us a little bit with the Apostle Paul saying this in verse 9.

He says, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters Nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkers, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. You see, What makes the sodomite movement so demonic, what makes it so evil, is unlike other sins, they shout, we need no repentance. And it is only when you feel yourself utterly undone and unworthy that you will apply to Christ for salvation. You see, it's one thing to be guilty of an abomination, but it's one thing to be guilty of an abomination and then draw your pride and identity from that abomination and attach it to yourself.

That's another thing altogether. See all men are sinners but it's it's when you start actually making excuse for and deriving pride for that very sin that you put yourself in such a position. And so to take the ultimate warning recorded in Scripture and just paint it with rainbow colors, congratulate one another, celebrate and parade it, that will never do. That's the great evil. And what it's also saying is this, it's a disregarding of sin as sin, which is also a disregarding of Christ as Savior, the one who came to save us from our sins, it's actual treason against the cross.

And that's why Paul, right at the very beginning of the statement, what does he say? Do not be deceived. There's a temptation to deceive ourselves. And the nation you can see all around us has fallen hook, line, and sinker into this deception. So what is our job?

Well, as Christians, our job isn't to to bring damnation but conviction by communicating God's truth with an aim for the salvation of our fellow men and women. How will they hear? That's the question without a preacher. How will men hear the truth of God's Word? And this is the question that Richard Baxter asked a few hundred years ago.

Shall we let men go quietly to hell, fearing to anger them or have hazard our reputation with them? He says no, that will never do. The great need of the hour is repentance and forgiveness and it's men taking the gospel of Christ and making it known. Because what does it say? The scripture ends with this, and such were some of you.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God. As it turns out, no one is born with this sin. You have former homosexuals, former sodomites, recorded right here 2, 000 years ago in Corinth. And this is what I want us all to think about here. Oswald Chambers said this, I have never met a person I could despair of or lose all hope for after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

How we ought to look at these people, not as beyond the reach of the gospel. Think about the power of Christ to save sinners and take the gospel Not with well, what will they say? I am NOT ashamed of the gospel That's what the Apostle Paul said for it is the power of God onto salvation to everyone who believes To the Jew first they have some experience with God, but also to the pagan Greek. Every man who has a beating heart has a soul, and we can take the scripture to him. God is able and God is willing.

And so there were former homosexuals sitting in the Sodom of Corinth 2, 000 years ago, just as there are many former homosexuals sitting in churches all around the country today, former homosexuals. We have former fornicators, pornography addicts, murderers, idolaters, adulterers, coveters, drunkards, thieves, revilers, and swindlers as well. Sitting in our midst, remember that such were some of you, and God's power is able and He's mighty to save. So let's pray. Well, Father, we come before you this afternoon, Lord.

These are definitely weighty subjects, Lord, that we don't take pleasure in diving into, but see them as necessary, just as you saw it as necessary that Abraham and his children would know the truth and see in you both your long suffering and your severity. And Lord, we pray that you would please help us as a church, even though we're small, to be able to speak and to hold forth the truth in the day that we're living in, oh God. We pray that you would give us opportunity to speak to our neighbors about your word, oh God. Help us not to fear, oh Lord. Help us to rely entirely on the truth of your word.

And may you be mighty to save oh God may you show us your great power in the salvation of those who have put you behind their back Lord may you yet even now turn their hearts just as you've turned ours In Jesus name we pray, Amen.