Pastor Steve Hopkins delivers a sermon at Burnet Bible Church focusing on the biblical perspective of sodomy and deliverance from it. Referencing 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, he emphasizes that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, but through Jesus, sinners can be washed, sanctified, and justified. The sermon responds to a Canadian law prohibiting conversion therapy, prompting pastors in Canada and the U.S. to unite in preaching biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality. Hopkins critiques arguments from some professing Christians who reinterpret scripture to condone homosexual acts, underscoring the unchanging nature of God's moral law. He encourages believers to boldly speak the truth in love and reminds them of their role as a preservative force in society. The sermon stresses the importance of Christians sharing the gospel, as transformation and deliverance from sin are possible through Jesus Christ.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. This week Pastor Hopkins delivers the second part to his two-part series on the sin of sodomy. His message is entitled, Such Were Some of You, Deliverance from the Sin of Sodomy. Good morning again. Let's stand together for the reading of the Word of the Lord.

You'll turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We'll be reading together verses 9 through 11. Let's read together the word of the Lord. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God and Such were some of you, but you are washed you are sanctified But you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Let's pray.

Father, we ask, God, that you might be glorified this morning as your holy word is preached and that your people might be edified and further sanctified and that the Holy Spirit might do a work in this place, in the hearts, in the lives of all whom you have given ears to hear. For we ask you in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Let's be seated. The title of the message in our last session was The Grievous Sin of Sodomy and the Destruction of Nations. The sermon was in response to the request from pastors in Canada.

Michael briefly mentioned them in his prayer again, it was in response to the request from pastors in Canada to their counterparts, their fellow laborers in the gospel in America, to stand in solidarity with them and preach on the subject of homosexuality and of God's design for marriage and sexuality. And last week I noted that this was in response or as a result of the new law in Canada, which went into effect on January 8th of this year, 2022, which made it effectively illegal to preach the gospel to Homosexuals I use that with quotations around it. There's no biblical category, but those who engage in homosexual Behavior in their country The law claims to be aimed at so-called conversion therapy, but it made it a crime punishable by up to five years in prison if a person engages in any, quote, practice, treatment, or service designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual or quote a person who engages in any practice treatment or service designed to quote change a person's gender identity or quote repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior in quote. Anyone think even a few years ago we would be seeing this in Canada and unbelievable.

So in other words, anyone who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ to or shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with a person who is engaging in homosexual behavior in Canada or who shares the gospel with or preaches the gospel with or to any person who is pretending to be a gender they're not, any Man pretending to be a woman or any woman pretending to be a man can be charged with a crime Punishable by up to five years in prison and I said last week the the vote in Parliament was unanimous Not a single voice of dissent from the left or the right, from the liberals or the conservatives. Not one dissenting voice. Pastors all over Canada, I was told about 300 of them defied that law, addressed the sin of homosexual behavior last Sunday from their pulpits, and preach on the subject of God's design for marriage and sexuality, and about 2, 700 of us pastors in the United States joined with them. As I said in our last session, for us, at least for the present, there's no cost. We're not being threatened with fines, we're not being threatened with jail time, we're not being threatened with any loss of liberty, but we need to count the cost And we need to be ready.

Some believe it's coming to the United States, to a church near you. May the Lord bless His church in Canada, and all who stand for and preach the truth of His holy word, no matter the cost. Amen? Amen. The title of the message this morning is Such Worse Some of You, Deliverance from the Sin of Sodomy.

And we're going to be looking at this passage and then and then after that I want to for us to look at some of the arguments that are being made today by professing Christians and professing Christian churches who are using the scriptures in error to advance the notion that homosexual behavior and acts are not really sin. So we're going to be looking at that as well. But first, such were some of you deliverance from the sin of sodomy. In verse 9 of the text before us, the apostle Paul speaking under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes to the church at Corinth, Do you not know that the unrighteous are not going to inherit the kingdom of God? Don't kid yourselves Don't be deceived fornicators Idolaters adulterers effeminate abusers of themselves with mankind thieves covetous drunkards or violers extortioners are not going to enter the kingdom of God.

They're not going to inherit the kingdom of heaven. And then he goes on to say in verse 11, but you know, such were some of you. But now you're washed. You've been sanctified. You've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

And the first thing we need to understand from this text is that the church at Corinth was filled with blood washed, spirit sanctified, Christ justified ex-sinners. Not ex-sinners in the sense that they no longer sinned at all, or weren't somehow perfected in this life, that day will not come until Christ's return, when we see Him as He is, and this corruption puts on incorruptibility as we read in the Scriptures. But ex-sinners, in the sense that they are no longer living lives of sin in the lives of sin that once enslaved them. They're ex-sinners in this sense. Some of them used to be fornicators, but now they're ex-fornicators.

Some of them used to be fornicators But now they're ex fornicators some of them used to be idolaters, but now they are ex Idolaters and instead of worshipping false gods they worship the living God Some of them used to be adulterers, but now they're ex-adulterers, having abandoned their adulteries. Some of them were once effeminate and abusers of themselves sexually with other men, but they have forsaken the practice of sodomy and repented of their vile affections. Some of them used to be thieves, but they have given up their lives of theft and robbery and steal no more. Some of them were once covetous, others were drunkards, and others revilers, and some of them extortioners, but now they're ex-coveters and ex-drunkards and ex-revilers and ex-extortioners. Now they're sitting in the pews at the first Christian church of Corinth because God Almighty in His mercy delivered them from their former lives of sin, from their bondage to sin, and the tyranny of the devil through the death of his son.

Now they're assembling with the saints at the first Christian church of Corinth because they have been washed by the blood of Christ. They have been set apart unto God by the operation of the Holy Spirit. They have been justified, declared just in God's sight through faith in the person and the work of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense, they are ex-sitters. They are a new creation.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new and becoming new. They are not what they once were. It was God who made the change in them. By grace, they were given new hearts, and they were given new minds, and new affections, and a new master.

Amen. Aren't you glad today that God Saved you from your life of sin If you can't look back and and find a time where there was a change Well, maybe there hasn't ever been a change But every one of us should be able to look back and say, wow, I see, and it may have been over days, it may have been over hours, it may have been over weeks, it may have been over months or years, but you will see that God worked a work in you. It was not your own work, but God did a work in you and He changed you. He made you a new creation. You are not what you once were.

You were given a new heart, and you know the time where you were given a new heart. Maybe not the second, but the time in your life when you were given a new mind, when you were given new affections, where you went from loving your sin to hating sin and wanting to be freed from it with all your heart. From not believing on Jesus to believing on his name. From being a slave of sin to willingly becoming a slave of the Lord Jesus. These who are in Corinth that we read of are no different from any person sitting in this church today.

No different from any person in this church house today who has been washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit of our God. Such were some of you also. We're all ex-syners in that sense. In the sense that we who believe, who are the blood-bought children of God, have been set apart under God, set apart from the world, set apart from what we once were, freed from the dominion of sin, delivered from the tyranny of Satan, purchased from off the slave block of sin, and now slaves of a new master Jesus Christ. Bless his holy name.

The teaching of Scripture is that Christ delivers not only from the penalty of sin But also from the bondage of sin. Do you understand that? Never imperfection, remember I've said it a thousand times, put the banner up behind my head, it is a progressive sanctification. We're incrementally conformed to the image of Christ. We're never perfected on earth.

We'll always be sinners. You've sinned since you entered this building today None of one of us has loved the Lord his God with all his heart soul strength in mind since we entered this building today And yet we're commanded to do so the teaching of scripture is that Christ delivers from not only the penalty of sin, but also the bondage of sin and the tyranny of the devil. And so that there is evidence in the life of all those who have been delivered by Him that they have come to a point in their life that all they want to do is live for Him, and their lives reflect it. They're no longer practicing sin. They're no longer practicing the sin of their former lives.

God made the difference and is making the difference. And it's not popular to preach in the churches of America today that God delivers not only from the power of sin to damn us eternally, but also from the power of sin to enslave us. You don't have to go far down the road to see the big billboard over the church that says no rules, just Jesus. Can you Imagine a church, you know what's going on today? There are churches, maybe we can't call them churches biblically defined, there are churches opening their memberships to professing sodomites.

Do you realize that? Very popular, very progressive, we're on the cutting edge, we're very acceptable to the world. Can you imagine a church opening its membership to practicing, you know, thieves or extortioners, which aren't even called abominable on the side of it. Their sin isn't even classified as an abomination before God. Can you imagine that?

Yes, some churches today, they can be called churches open the membership to men and women who openly engage in the vile acts of homosexuality. What would we think of a person who a visitor comes through the door and after the service, we're having the fellowship time, and this visitor shows up and says, I like to apply for membership at Bernad Bible Church. I'm a practicing thief. What would you think? I steal, you know, but I was born that way.

There's nothing I can do about it, you know. Yeah, you were born that way. That's the problem. I was born that way. In fact, I stole from a neighbor of mine just yesterday.

And by the way, don't, if you pass an offering plate here, don't leave it in front of my face too long. Because I'm still a thief. But bless God, I believe in Jesus, and I'm on my way to heaven. No! Fornicators and thieves and extortioners and the effeminate and those who abuse themselves sexually with other men, that is to engage in homosexual acts, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Shall not inherit the kingdom of God. They shall not inherit the kingdom of God they shall not inherit the kingdom of God the person is living in these sins he's not on his way to heaven but hell and of course those who are on their way to hell shouldn't be received into membership in Christian churches. I was just thinking this morning, a hundred years from now, Someone might hear this, read this sermon, or find this sermon, or whatever, and you know, Christians a hundred years from now, they just laugh, they go, are you serious? They really had to talk about things like that? Back in America before the collapse, before the destruction of the nation, they really had to talk about things.

They had pastors in some churches had to rebuke pastors and other churches for letting homosexuals into their membership and not only into their membership, practicing homosexuals, living in the sin, but also into their pulpits. It's insanity. So the apostle Paul says, don't be deceived, folks. Do not be deceived. Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Now this does not mean that the true believer cannot be tempted with sin in his mind.

It doesn't mean that the true believer cannot, is not going to struggle against sin. It doesn't mean that powerful temptations are not going to come upon believers. We have the guarantee in Scripture they are going to. We are going to face temptations and struggles. Sometimes we're gonna slip, but ultimately we will not fall.

We're being held up by the Lord. As long as we're in these bodies of sin and corruption, there's going to be temptation. It's a guarantee. But where the Spirit of God is, where God's Spirit is indwelling His people, there's going to be – holiness is going to be pursued. And it's going to be pursued in love for God and in gratefulness for His saving grace.

There's going to be a heart that longs for more obedience, more love to Thee, as the hymn says. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commands. There's going to be a longing to be more like Jesus and less like us. There's going to be sadness and grief when we sin as we all do at all will. There's going to be sadness and grief.

There's going to be a work of the Spirit bringing conviction upon our hearts and our lives as we are incrementally conformed day by day, little by little, more and more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where the Spirit of God is in dwelling a man or a woman, there's not going to be a returning to the vomit. There's not going to be a returning to and living in to the end of your days the sins of your former life. There's not going to be a wallowing in the mire. We have a Father in heaven, I've said so many times, who loves us and who will chase in us and who will bring us back.

And we have a Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit indwelling us, who will convict us and convince us of sin and turn us more and more from those things that are not pleasing in the sight of God. And we have a Savior, Lord Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven who is interceding for us by His blood. We will not go back to that life of sin and live in it until the day we die. It doesn't mean Christians can't slip and can't fall, no. But it does mean that when we do, God brings us back, we will continue to repent and believe to the end of our days.

Where the Spirit of God is, that's the case. Where the Spirit of God is not, there is no war. There is no war with the world, the flesh, and the devil. There's no battle. There's no battleground.

All there is is capitulation. But where the Spirit of God indwells a man, there is conflict. There is conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The man who has not the spirit of the living God and dwelling him will be like the dog that returns to his vomit but the man who has been washed sanctified justified in the name of Jesus by the grace and the power of the Spirit of the living God will fight sin in the power of the Spirit and God will cause him to overcome as he is incrementally, day by day, conformed more and more to the image of the Lord Jesus. Does everyone understand that?

Do you understand that? Moving forward, the battleground on the issue of homosexuality used to be us and them. It was outside the church. Now the fight has been brought full square into the church houses. And that's what happens when you don't fight on their turf, right?

Church laid down and played dead on this. They didn't want conflict with the world for the most part. There was not much conflict. Some churches stood, some were reluctant to stand. Or we'll just talk about something else.

But we have professing sodomites in America today who are claiming to be Christian. I'm not going to give the names of some of the prominent ones, but maybe you've heard of some of those that the media is really, you know, lifting up out there. So they claim, they're claiming to be Christian. They're saying it is compatible to be Engaging in homosexual behavior and be a Christian. It's hard to believe, like I say, 100 years from now people will say, are you serious, they're talking about that?

But of course the word Christian means Christ-like. And you can't be engaging in that which God calls abomination at the same time be like Christ. The word Christian means Christ-like. You remember in our study last week of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, I said, those who say that Jesus never talked about homosexuality don't know the Jesus of the Bible. Anyone remember that from last week?

The Jesus of the Bible, just to reiterate, the Jesus of the Bible is the second person of the Holy Trinity come to earth. And in the account of the appearance of the three men In Genesis chapter 18, we are told that one of these quote, men who visited Abraham on his way to Sodom was the Lord. Everyone understand that? It was a theophany. It was a Christophany.

It was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus before Abraham and then entrance into Sodom it was a pre-incarnate appearance of the second person of the Holy Trinity, God's eternal Son. And he called down fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus dropped the bomb on those cities For the rampant homosexual behavior taking place there remember the men of Sodom Surrounded Lot's house and demanded that he turn over his visitors to them to be raped by them That's what these men were asking for. And 10 righteous men couldn't be found in the entire city, estimated by some today to be populated in the millions in those cities in the outlying areas. Jesus did address the issue also in the New Testament.

You say, well where? Every time he talked about marriage in the New Testament. Every time he defined marriage, Every time he talked about the covenant of marriage, it was always in the context of one man and one woman Right becoming one flesh in holy matrimony Even as it was at the beginning when he would talk about the beginning, when God made them male and female, and when God brought Adam, one woman, the two became one flesh. When Jesus spoke on the subject of marriage in the New Testament, being one man and one woman, becoming one flesh, and holy matrimony, it was to the exclusion of every other perverse imagination of man. Jesus addressed homosexuality.

In a moment, we're gonna look at some of the arguments, some of the attacks people are using today to try to make Christians run from the issue and hide. But first, don't let anyone ever tell you that God changed between the Old Testament and the New. Anyone ever heard that argument? Well, you know, the guy of the Old Testament, yeah, he was like this, but the God of the New Testament, he's like this. So they try to say, God never changes.

One of the attributes of the living God, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is that God is immutable. He is unchangeable. If God could change, He wouldn't be God. Right? But they'll tell you that this is evidence by the fact that the New Testament writers didn't condemn homosexual acts.

What? We already read a few weeks ago back when we were going through Romans 1, extensively, of God's condemnation of homosexual activity, when we read that men were being given over to a reprobate mind, right, remember? And given over to vile affections, and then those vile affections are described or identified, men with men working that which is shameful, and men who were burning with lust one toward another, end quote, and that those who commit such things are worthy of death, end quote. Yes, the New Testament talks about homosexuality and it condemns it, or homosexual acts and condemns them. And if you flip over to Jude, verse 7, you'll see reference there to God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah under the quote, vengeance, end quote, of God in the New Testament.

God never changes. We read there in Jude 7, quote, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, that sexual immorality, from the Greek word pornea, from which we get the modern English word pornography and going after strange flesh that's a description of going after homosexual relations and Jude says these are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. And notice here when Jude says, look, those that are living in Sodom and Gomorrah are examples to us. Here's a city filled with fornication. Here's a city that's filled with men going after strange flesh, men going after homosexual relations.

And they're set forth in front of all the world as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, that they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. But look at those words. He doesn't say they suffered the vengeance of destruction by fire in the temporal setting of Sodom and Gomorrah, but eternal fire Which means that not only were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed in the temporal setting when God brought down fire and brimstone and wiped that city off the face of the earth and turned it to ashes those cities But that those who perished perished Eternally not only perished temporarily but also perished eternally and will face the vengeance of God in eternal fire in hell. It's pretty heavy. The other New Testament talks about homosexuality and people in this country would do well to listen.

Amen. And brothers and sisters, another thing, and I've been guilty of this as well, and I have to correct myself all the time, but I wanna encourage you, please don't use the world's terminology when you discuss these issues. Someone once said, you know, whoever frames the argument wins the debate. As soon as you use the word G-A-Y to describe those who engage in the horrific sin, abominable sin of homosexuality, you have just conceded the argument. We need to not fall into the trap of using words that create categories that are biblically non-existent.

There is no category of GAY in the world. There's no category. There's no biblical category. We should use biblical terminology. I know it's offensive.

Sodomites. Sodomy. Men with men working that which is shameful, men and women leaving the natural use of the other, you know, burned and lost one toward another, man lying down with man as with woman which is an abomination. We need to use biblical terminology. They need to be on our turf, not us on theirs.

My Webster 1828 Dictionary of the American Language, which I would encourage everyone to get if they don't have one in their home. It was an era when Christianity ruled the English language. If you wanted to know what a word meant, you had to go to a Christian to find out. And there's 10, 000 passages of scripture in that dictionary used to help define words. Greatest probably etymologist that ever lived on this continent, Noah Webster.

His 1828 Dictionary of the American Language defines the word gay as quote Mary and jovial. That held till about the 1950s. That's the way the word has always been interpreted until recently. But the word now has been perverted in the past 70 years to describe a supposed category of people. By the way, that's what perverts do.

They pervert things. But the word was perverted in order to remove the stigma of the gross sin and perversion of sodomy and give it a delightful image and make it appear as something it is not and to present the perverse acts of men as though they were not engaging in wicked behavior but were merely a segment of society that were born in a certain condition, like being white or brown or black, and as though they were born that way, as though homosexual acts were not something they do but something they are. Something genetic thus not sin. Inherent in some people rather than what it is, a learned behavior. Nothing more than an act committed by men intentionally in an act which we read in Romans 1, which is actually a judgment of God upon men who have been handed over to vile affections.

So we need to reform our language when we're in conversations. Now I want to address a couple of the arguments that you may have heard or will most likely hear from Sodomites and the defenders of sodomy who are taking the scriptures today. Actually taking the scriptures today and using them in error intentionally to put Christians who are weak in the scriptures, Christians who don't know the scriptures, to put them on defense, on the defense, and to shut them up. And they've got a lot of people running with these arguments. And just going forward with that, you know, we should never permit ourselves to be taught by perverts, people who believe in perversion, who are espousing perversion.

Do you really want to be taught and led by those who whose only interest in perverting the scriptures is to gain acceptance and approval of their vile acts. These are not theologians even though they masquerade as such. They are wolves and sheep's clothing and they're all over the place now, they're all over the internet. They're wolves in sheep's clothing whose purpose is to devour the flock of Christ. And to put you on the defense and make you shut up.

And you need to not be on the defense and you need to not shut up. So I said last week, now's the time to speak. Now's the time to boldly speak. 10 men. That's all it would have taken to save Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ten righteous men. That's it. You're the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth.

If the salt loses its savor, it's good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the feet of men. Swept away with the wicked is what that means. But we have a preservative quality, and I believe that it is the church that's preserved this nation to this point, and we need to be bold, and we need to be active, and we need to be speaking out the truth of God's Word in love, in love. One of the first things that they'll tell you is that God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with rampant homosexual activity, the rampant homosexual activity going on in the city, but that God was angry because the people of the city were not hospitable. Does anyone hear that?

That's huge out there! It's a hospitality issue! What's their proof text? Look at Ezekiel 16.50. As you're turning, They say God was extremely upset with the lack of hospitality taking place.

They wouldn't take care of the poor and needy, so God wiped the whole city out, both cities out. He just wanted them to be hospitable to the poor and the needy. And we read in Ezekiel 16 50, this was the sin of thy sister Sodom. And they'll point the finger at you, this was the sin of thy sister Sodom. Pride, That's why he dropped the bomb on whatever.

Fullness of bread. They had too much luxury and never had to go without. An abundance of idleness was in her. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. And they stopped there and go no further.

Why? Because look at the next verse, because yes, yes the sin of pride and idleness were in Sodom, much like America today, right? It leads to some bad stuff. Yeah, pride and idleness were in Sodom. And she didn't really care for the poor and the needy.

Sounds like our country, doesn't it? And these self-appointed theologians want us to believe that that was the issue, That's it. That is the issue for which God destroyed millions of people in those cities. The whole world would have to be destroyed, right? But they never go to the next verse where we read, quote, and they were haughty and committed abomination before me.

Therefore, because they committed abomination before me, I took them away as I saw good. Let the scripture interpret scripture. God says they committed abomination before me, therefore that is for this reason I took them away. Leviticus 18 22, turn there with me, says thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind it is it is abomination now hang on to this passage for a moment thou shan't this is the command of God thou shan't not lie with mankind as with womankind it's abomination It's a bad thing to be prideful and haughty and full of bread and at the same time ignore the poor and the needy around you. But it is an abomination before God for a man to lie down with a man as with a woman.

And for this cause God dropped the bomb on Sodom. Now stay on the passage because surprisingly the Sodomite self-appointed theologians like to use this very verse to make the charge, and you'll hear this, believe me it's all over the place. You don't have to look far. They'll make the charge that the law against men lying down with other men as with women carries no more weight than the dietary and clothing restrictions found in the Old Testament. Oh, they use this in mockery.

There's been, I haven't seen it because I don't have television access, but I have heard pastors talk about seeing these programs that are just unbelievable. They are just mocking God on television and driving these things home to people and Back into Christians off and making them look like fools Of course giving creating straw man arguments and allowing nobody to come up and confront it But here's the argument the argument is the Levitical law also forbids the eating of certain foods and they like to bring up shellfish. That's the one, it's the shellfish argument. So God hates shellfish eaters. The Levitical law also forbids the wearing of garments interwoven with two different kinds of material.

It is back in Leviticus 11, in the ceremonial law, not in the moral law, to which the Christians should respond, the dietary and clothing laws were a part of the ceremonial law, which was specific to the Jews and done away with in Christ. Now, they may not accept that when you say this, but that's the answer, that's the truth. While The moral law transcends every culture and every age of man and is binding upon all men in every age. Why? Because they have to do with God and his nature and his perfections.

God is holy and he has said, Be ye holy, for I am holy. It has nothing to do with the ceremonial law, all of which is fulfilled in Christ. And of course Christ fulfilled all the law, but the moral law is still there. We still have commands and we still have obligations to be obedient to the moral law of God. But whenever you hear someone raise the shellfish argument, you need to remind them, and I've never heard any pastor say this, I've listened to several sermons on this and they don't go here, but I think it's helpful to go here.

I think you should remind the people who are making this argument that the penalty for eating shellfish or buzzard meat or any of those things that God set His people apart from the heathen nations and said, you can't do this, I don't want you to do this. The penalty for eating those things, the penalty for Wearing a garment that's interwoven with two different types of material Was that they would be alienated from their people and cut off from temple worship but the penalty for the capital crimes of murder and adultery and rape and incest and Kidnapping and homosexual relations in Israel was death You see the difference Shellfish Can't come into the temple Can't associate with that whether with the people are gonna cut you off from the people of Israel. You kidnap someone's child, you die. You rape, you die. Man lies down with a man as with a woman, it's abomination, their blood shall be up on their heads.

That means the guilt is their own that brings capital punishment upon them. They shall be executed. That's what the law of God said. People say, well should we do that today? I don't know if we have the moral authority to do it today.

That's a whole other subject. But the capital crimes of God were set apart in the moral law, and the penalty was death. The penalty for ceremonial law breaking is, can't worship with us. Can't associate with us, with the people of Israel. And I wouldn't stop there.

I wouldn't let them get off there even. I would take them to the next verse in Leviticus. Look at the next verse, chapter 18 and verse 23. The law, after the law condemning homosexual behavior, I would take them on to verse 23 where the Lord goes on to prohibit the unnatural and vile sin of bestiality. I would follow with a follow-up question.

So, let me get this straight. You approve also of a man or a woman lying down with a beast? You think that's nothing different than eating shellfish? You equate those as being on the same level? By the way, that's the next thing that's coming.

The next thing that's coming is bestiality. They are preparing the minds of young people for this right now. There are young people out there today who have been conditioned to accept absolutely there are no bounds, No rules, there are no bounds. By the way, I've never once, when I'm preaching in the streets or trying to minister to people one on one in public, I've never once heard a person who justifies homosexual sin condemn bestiality. Never, not once.

They won't do it. They're linked together here for a reason. Neither shall, Okay, a man do this or a woman do this lie down with beast May God turn us back and grant revival to our nation no matter what the cost if he has to destroy our economy If he has to wipe out half of the people in America, God, turn us back and bring glory to his name. Sexual anarchy knows no end. The children of our nation are not safe anymore.

Do You realize that? You better really be looking out for your kids. We've gone off a cliff. We're in a free fall. But as I said last week, I believe we were born for such a time as this.

I know I'm going long. One more page. One and a half. We were born for such a time as this. As the nation is collapsing morally, God is building.

Look around you. God's building. He doesn't do anything for nothing, you know? He's building. I'm not discouraged, I'm encouraged.

Yeah, I see that the way the world's going, everything, that's really bad, it's really bad. But I see, I also have a history book. And I read the history of the world, and I see where God has done amazing things, absolutely amazing things, and he always does it through a remnant. He does it through Gideon's army, not through a huge mass of people. Otherwise he doesn't receive the glory.

Now is not the time to hide out, Now is the time to speak out. Stand for truth. Speak it in love, speak the truth. And always remembering such were some of you. Such were some of you.

Our churches, as we close, are full of ex-centers just like Corinth. You know that? Some of us were once covetous, right? Some of us were once thieves, some of us were once sexually immoral, but the point is that we're all sinners worthy of death. But we've been washed to believe on Christ by the blood of Jesus.

We've been sanctified and set apart Unto God by the Spirit of God as I said in our last session great is the mercy of the Lord Amen great is the mercy of the Lord that he saved Wretches like us amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Great is the mercy of the Lord. And great is the mercy of the Lord that for the sake of ten righteous men, he spared an entire city, or a couple of cities, filled with millions of people from judgment. God uses people, God uses for that. I want to encourage the congregation once again to speak out.

The future of the nation may depend on it. Speak out. Understand that you were born for such a time as this. We were born for such a time as this, not to hide out, but to speak out. Not to cower in the shadows, but to come out into the light, not to whisper in the inner ear but to shout from the housetops, to be bold.

There is a great reluctance of Christians to openly talk about the sin of Sodom. It's uncomfortable for us. And a lot of times they push us back. And we need to not let that happen anymore. And then we have the media out there portraying anybody who opens his mouth about the sin of Sodom as being a bigot.

That if we clam up now, all will be lost. Can't clam up. Otherwise all will be lost. Remember, you're the salt of the earth. Don't lose your savor.

And we're commanded of God to have an answer for every man the hope that lies within us and that hope is Christ Our hope and the only hope for our nation in the world We must continue to offer the sure mercies of heaven through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all. We also must warn men to fail to turn from the grievous sin of sodomy means destruction, eternal destruction, even eternal damnation. Not only does it mean the destruction of your body, as I pointed out last week, the average life expectancy of the person who engages in homosexual behavior is 40 years, is like 35 years less than the person who engaged in heterosexual action. That's it. Why aren't the insurance companies offering discounts for people who are heterosexual?

Yes. Why aren't they? 39 is what John McArthur said the other day, if you're engaging in homosexual behavior. I thought it was 43. He said 39.

39 to 43, that's early death. But the most important thing we need to let them know is yes, you're destroying your body, and yes, you're going to die at a young age, typically. But the most important thing is there's eternal damnation on the way, eternal damnation. So again, be ready to give an answer to every man of the hope that lies within us, which is Christ, his person and his work, what he did on that cross 2, 000 years ago when the sinless son of God who knew no sin became sin in the sight of God for our sins carried our sorrows was stricken smitten and afflicted of God for our transgressions for he knew no sin himself and was treated like he did all the things that we're guilty of. We need to take the gospel, the good news that Jesus suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day to our neighbors.

Your neighbors haven't heard the gospel. You've heard me say that many times. Your neighbors think they know the gospel, but they don't know the gospel. They may have heard Joel Osteen. They may have heard, you know, some of the guys on TVN or what have you.

They may have gotten their Watchtower magazine in their mailbox or whatever. They don't know the gospel They don't know the gospel We need to take the gospel the good news that Jesus suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day To our neighbors and acquaintances and tell them what wonderful things God has done for us. What wonderful things God has done unto us. That he's put our sins as far as the east is from the west out of remembrance and forgiven us all our transgressions. Amen, And that they can be forgiven too.

That they also can be forgiven. And they also can be washed. And they also can be cleansed by the blood of Christ, no matter what they've done or how long they've done it. That God is merciful and receives all who come to him in repentance and faith in his son Jesus. And if they repent and believe the gospel, they too shall be saved.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, we bless your holy name. We thank you, God, for your word. It is truth.

We thank you for the convicting power of your Holy Spirit and the operation of the Spirit upon the hearts of your people and upon the lost. We trust, Lord, that you've done a work in this place today and we give you all the glory for it, oh God. We give you all the glory for it. Now prepare us, prepare our hearts, God, as we go into that time of self-examination before we eat of that bread and drink of that cup, showing Jesus died for me. It's in His holy name we pray these Thanks, amen.