Sermon:God’s Stance on Homosexuality (Selected Scriptures)

 God’s Stance on Homosexuality

Selected Scriptures

Primary Truth Taught- The practice of homosexuality was, is and always will be an abomination before God.

Leviticus 18:22 (ESV)

²² You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

1. God’s Desire for Sexual Relations is Between Husband and Wife

God is very clear that the proper place for physical intimacy is between one man and one woman who are husband and wife.

1 Corinthians 7:1–5 (ESV)

7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ² But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³ The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴ For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵ Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1. Intimacy

Sex is a wonderful blessing given to us by the Lord that serves to express intimacy to one another.  Some theologians believe that the sexual union is representative of the intimacy found in the Trinity.  This is not to say that the members of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have sexual relations.  That is absurd.  But there is an incredible intimacy and communion between them.  The three persons in the Godhead are, after all, one God.  This is why Jesus said that He and the Father were one (John 10:30).  Remember, God says when a man and woman get married, they become one flesh (Gen. 2:24).  This expression of physical union, which has a spiritual aspect to it (“the two become one flesh”) and is why some theologians see the sexual relation as a sacred experience.

1. Procreation

Also included within the intimacy of the marriage bed comes procreation…

Genesis 1:27–28 (ESV)

²⁷    So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So God’s purpose for sex within marriage is for intimacy, peace, and procreation. The Apostle Paul would even comment that God’s ordained covenant of marriage between one man and one woman is a picture of Christ and the Church…

Ephesians 5:31–32 (ESV)

³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

As the husband and wife function within their God given roles, namely, submission and headship it pictures how the church submits to Christ and how Christ is our head.

This is how God has designed intimacy. It is to be between one man and one woman who are married. Any sex outside of the marriage covenant is sinful.

2. God’s View of Homosexuality

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Notice in this passage that Paul writes that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Then he gives us a list of the lifestyle sins of the unrighteous. Among the sins listed is homosexuality.

Now, I want to clarify something. He does NOT say homosexuals or as we hear on a regular basis today those who are gay. There is NO such thing as a homosexual or someone who is gay. There are those who practice homosexuality but that is just one sin among many that would cause God to include someone in the unrighteous category.

We must think biblically and not as the world would has us think. Again, just so we are clear on this there is no such thing as a homosexual or someone who is gay. These labels have been put in place to excuse those who practice the sin of homosexuality. It’s not how they are or who they are. God does not make someone gay and the next person straight.

Homosexuality is a sin it is NOT who someone is. One preacher said homosexuality is not the new black. Our society has been brainwashed many into thinking that being gay is just who someone is much like being black or white. You see if they can convince us that being gay is who they are like being white or black then it’s just how God made them. It would be like saying that being black is sinful. However, it’s not who they are it’s what they do.

God does not change and theologians call this God’s immutability. Because He never changes, His views on things never change. Practicing homosexuality has always been sinful and it always will be. It was wrong 6000 years ago, it’s wrong now, and it will be wrong 6,000 years from now.

3. Where We Are As a Society

Romans 1:18–32 (ESV)

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
I wanted to focus your attention on this passage because I think we can see where we are as a society. This is how God works when He judges a society or even a nation.
First we should realize that there are various types of God’s judgments.

The wrath of God is divided into a number of elements. There is eschatological wrath. That is the wrath that will fall on the earth at the end of human history in a time called the time of Tribulation. There is sowing and reaping wrath. That is the wrath of God that comes consequent on sin–whatever a man sows, he reaps. There is cataclysmic wrath. That is the wrath of God that He sets on man from miraculous use of the natural order, such as the Flood, or any other massive disaster that catapults souls into eternity. So there is that wrath of God which is eschatological and which is consequential and which is cataclysmic. And then there is that wrath of God which is eternal wrath, and that would be the wrath of God unleashed on the ungodly forever in the punishments of eternal hell.[1]
The judgment spoken of in this passage is none of these it is, however, the judgment of being abandoned by God. When God turns a society over to the lusts of their minds and allows them to go their own way, the natural way they go is a downward spiral into sin. When this happens God is not holding back the floodwaters of sin and a people simply do what they desire to do. It works much like an addiction. The sin they enjoyed before is not enough now. It must be greater in nature and greater in perversion. One generation after another exhibits greater perversion than the generation before it.
What you see in Romans chapter 1 is the sequence of what happens when God abandons a nation. First, verse 24 says, He gives them over to “the lust of their hearts to impurity,” sexual sin, the dishonoring of their bodies among them. When God abandons a society, the first thing that happens is it becomes pornographic. It becomes obsessed with sex, obsessed with fornication, adultery, every kind of sexual behavior. We have gone through that already in the sexual revolution a couple of decades ago.
The second thing that happens when God abandons a culture is found in verse 26, “God gave them over to degrading passions…their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural…in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” At the end of that verse, “Receiving in their persons the due penalty” is the diseases that come consequent to homosexual behavior. And as you know, they unleashed on the world the horror of AIDS.
But what it’s saying here is that when God abandons a nation or a culture under His wrath, there will be a sexual revolution followed by a homosexual revolution. And we are living in this very condition.
There’s a third step, verse 28, “God gave them over to a depraved mind,” that’s a mind that doesn’t function, that can’t think right. So life becomes filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, and we talked about that last week, the massive murder of millions and millions of unborn infants in the womb that is carried on in our country and around the world.
Also characteristic of this depraved mind is they become haters of God, haters of God. We’re living in the outpouring of the wrath of God in the category of His abandoning a culture, and we’re living in the sequence that is here–a sexual revolution, a homosexual revolution, a reprobate mind that unleashes everything, including murder on a massive scale, and hate toward God. [2]

As we line up where we are as a society we see clearly that God has given us up. God has lifted the restraint and allow our society to go the way it wants to go. Now, we understand that He hasn’t given up His children, of course, but as a society He is allowing us to go our own way. He’s not restraining evil. You see there is an aspect of God’s grace where He restrains the evil of a society. He doesn’t allow it to get as evil as it could but when judgment takes place God doesn’t make anyone sin but He simply lifts His restraint and allows a people to go the way they want.

I’m always careful to make a declaration like this but when you can trace it right down through a passage like this one, it’s hard not to see it.
The end result of God’s judgment is that people have abandoned God’s ways and are going their own way. This leads to homosexual behavior because that is the ultimate example of created beings that are commanded to procreate and be fruitful and multiply not only engaging in homosexual behavior but also doing so boldly, without restraint, without embarrassment, and endorsing others who do the same. Sex is for marriage and for procreation and those who practice homosexuality can do neither. This is the judgment of God on a people.

4. Our Calling as Ambassadors for Christ

What must our response be? We must pray for our world and ask God to work and to relent from judgment and extend mercy and grace.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

However, on an individual level we must boldly share Christ with those who are lost. The sin of homosexuality is a sin like any other, in the sense that the one practicing that lifestyle must repent and be forgiven like anyone else.

Our church will welcome ALL sinners and care for them, love them, and speak the truth to them. You see the most loving thing we can do is to tell a sinner the truth.

So, we will never compromise the truth here. We will never water down the Gospel or tell sinners their sin is ok. We will always teach the biblical view of everything and when the Bible differs from society and when the Bible is not politically correct then we say that we must obey God rather than man.

5. Common Arguments from Those Practicing Homosexuality

Due to time restraints we can’t cover every response but we can look at a couple common arguments for homosexuality.

Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?

Genesis 19:4–11 (ESV)

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

One common argument is that God did not destroy the cities because of homosexuality but because they were not friendly and hospitable…

Ezekiel 16:49 (ESV)

⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Jude 7 (ESV)

⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Another common argument leveled at those of us who believe that the Bible condemns homosexuality is point out, what they say, are OT inconsistencies.

What I hear most often is “Christians ignore lots of Old Testament texts—about not eating raw meat or pork or shellfish, not executing people for breaking the Sabbath, not wearing garments woven with two kinds of material and so on. Then they condemn homosexuality. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what they want to believe from the Bible?”

However, let’s get back to considering the larger issue of inconsistency regarding things mentioned in the OT that are no longer practiced by the New Testament people of God. Most Christians don’t know what to say when confronted about this. Here’s a short course on the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament:
The Old Testament devotes a good amount of space to describing the various sacrifices that were to be offered in the tabernacle (and later temple) to atone for sin so that worshippers could approach a holy God. As part of that sacrificial system there was also a complex set of rules for ceremonial purity and cleanness. You could only approach God in worship if you ate certain foods and not others, wore certain forms of dress, refrained from touching a variety of objects, and so on. This vividly conveyed, over and over, that human beings are spiritually unclean and can’t go into God’s presence without purification.
But even in the Old Testament, many writers hinted that the sacrifices and the temple worship regulations pointed forward to something beyond them. (cf. 1 Samuel 15:21-22; Psalm 50:12-15; 51:17; Hosea 6:6). When Christ appeared he declared all foods ‘clean’ (Mark 7:19) and he ignored the Old Testament clean laws in other ways, touching lepers and dead bodies.
But the reason is made clear. When he died on the cross the veil in the temple was ripped through, showing that the need for the entire sacrificial system with all its clean laws had been done away with. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and now Jesus makes us “clean.”
The entire book of Hebrews explains that the Old Testament ceremonial laws were not so much abolished as fulfilled by Christ. Whenever we pray ‘in Jesus name’, we ‘have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus’ (Hebrews 10:19). It would, therefore, be deeply inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible as a whole if we were to continue to follow the ceremonial laws.
The New Testament gives us further guidance about how to read the Old Testament. Paul makes it clear in places like Romans 13:8ff that the apostles understood the Old Testament moral law to still be binding on us. In short, the coming of Christ changed how we worship but not how we live. The moral law is an outline of God’s own character—his integrity, love, and faithfulness. And so all the Old Testament says about loving our neighbor, caring for the poor, generosity with our possessions, social relationships, and commitment to our family is still in force. The New Testament continues to forbid killing or committing adultery, and all the sex ethic of the Old Testament is re-stated throughout the New Testament (Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 1 Timothy 1:8-11.) If the New Testament has reaffirmed a commandment, then it is still in force for us today.
Further, the New Testament explains another change between the Testaments. Sins continue to be sins—but the penalties change. In the Old Testament things like adultery or incest were punishable with civil sanctions like execution. This is because at that time God’s people existed in the form of a nation-state and so all sins had civil penalties.
But in the New Testament the people of God are an assembly of churches all over the world, living under many different governments. The church is not a civil government, and so sins are dealt with by exhortation and, at worst, exclusion from membership. This is how a case of incest in the Corinthian church is dealt with by Paul (1 Corinthians 5:1ff. and 2 Corinthians 2:7-11.) Why this change? Under Christ, the gospel is not confined to a single nation—it has been released to go into all cultures and peoples.
Once you grant the main premise of the Bible—about the surpassing significance of Christ and his salvation—then all the various parts of the Bible make sense. Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed. Because of Christ the church is no longer a nation-state imposing civil penalties. It all falls into place. However, if you reject the idea of Christ as Son of God and Savior, then, of course, the Bible is at best a mish-mash containing some inspiration and wisdom, but most of it would have to be rejected as foolish or erroneous.
So where does this leave us? There are only two possibilities. If Christ is God, then this way of reading the Bible makes sense and is perfectly consistent with its premise. The other possibility is that you reject Christianity’s basic thesis—you don’t believe Jesus was the resurrected Son of God—and then the Bible is no sure guide for you about much of anything. But the one thing you can’t really say in fairness is that Christians are being inconsistent with their beliefs to accept the moral statements in the Old Testament while not practicing other ones.
One way to respond to the charge of inconsistency may be to ask a counter-question—”Are you asking me to deny the very heart of my Christian beliefs?” If you are asked, “Why do you say that?” you could respond, “If I believe Jesus is the resurrected Son of God, I can’t follow all the ‘clean laws’ of diet and practice, and I can’t offer animal sacrifices. All that would be to deny the power of Christ’s death on the cross. And so those who really believe in Christ must follow some Old Testament texts and not others.”[3]

One last argument and we’ll be quick is the whole idea that because we disagree with their lifestyle we hate them. They’ve even invented the word Homophobia to label all who do not endorse their lifestyle. Here is the sad reality. Because or society has twisted the act of homosexuality from a sin to who the person is, then to disagree with them is to disagree with who they are. They call us haters. The real issue is that we are the ones who really love them because no one else will tell them the truth. They have short circuited God’s grace because in their eyes is not a sin and they are just living out who they are.

We must reach out to all sinners including those who practice homosexuality. Their only hope is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel God removes His wrath and extends grace.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Declaration of Grace

In the mercy and grace of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for His sake God forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ He gives the power to become the children of God and gives to them the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

[1] http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-449?Term=homosexuality

[2] http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-449?Term=homosexuality

[3] http://www.exodusglobalalliance.org/old-testament-law-and-the-charge-of-inconsistency-p1912.php