WEBVTT 00:00:03.646 --> 00:00:28.111 We're in a sermon series called Can we Talk, and this is week two of the portion where we're talking about sexuality, and last week we spent some time talking about how God ordained the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the many benefits that came from that, including children being born and enjoyment. 00:00:28.111 --> 00:00:35.392 Also, god created sexuality for us to be able to enjoy each other within that holy relationship. 00:00:35.392 --> 00:00:41.250 That it is holy when God sets it apart and when we are married according to His way. 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:44.908 It's not that he's wanting to keep something from us. 00:00:44.908 --> 00:00:54.844 He's actually wanting us to enjoy what he's created in the order and way that he's created it to its fullest potential and extent, and that's the way God is. 00:00:54.844 --> 00:00:56.225 God is a good Father. 00:00:56.225 --> 00:01:09.668 He's a good Father, and so the way that he sets things up may seem restrictive or limited in some way, but he does that for our benefit, for our good, and so we're going to continue that conversation this morning. 00:01:09.668 --> 00:01:37.409 I do want to give you a little bit of a forewarning we will be talking about some pretty delicate subject matter, and so just to be prepared for that as we move through this sermon, all right, let's look at Romans, chapter one, verses 18 through 32, and that's going to be our passage this morning, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. 00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:56.331 For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them, 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. 00:01:56.331 --> 00:02:04.343 So they are without excuse, for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. 00:02:04.343 --> 00:02:09.782 But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:02:09.782 --> 00:02:21.491 Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:41.581 Therefore, god gave them up, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 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. 00:02:41.581 --> 00:02:50.824 For this reason, god gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural nature, I'm sorry. 00:02:50.824 --> 00:03:01.242 Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature and the men likewise, gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. 00:03:01.242 --> 00:03:08.021 Men committed shameless acts with men and, receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 00:03:08.021 --> 00:03:14.805 And since the due penalty for their error, I'm sorry, receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 00:03:14.805 --> 00:03:28.497 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, god gave them up to a debased mind and to do what ought not to be done, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. 00:03:28.497 --> 00:03:33.287 They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. 00:03:33.287 --> 00:03:47.384 They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 00:03:47.384 --> 00:03:54.046 Therefore, they know God's righteous, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die. 00:03:54.046 --> 00:03:59.586 They not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them. 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:01.664 Let's pray together this morning. 00:04:01.664 --> 00:04:06.689 Father, I am so grateful that you've given us a manual for life. 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:09.807 You didn't just set things up and then move away. 00:04:09.807 --> 00:04:26.689 Father, you are actively involved in humanity and so, lord, today we ask, in Jesus' name, that you would open our eyes to the truth concerning human sexuality and the perversion that this world is attempting to create as normal. 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:46.930 Father, we ask, in Jesus' name, that you would open our ears to hear clearly, that you would open our minds to think clearly, open our hearts to receive the truth that will be planted deep to grow in us and to produce fruit, not only for ourselves but for those around us to be able to enjoy, as we're able to share these truths with others. 00:04:46.930 --> 00:04:50.742 We give you glory for it in Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:05.632 The other day, as I was contemplating this sermon, I was getting a little overwhelmed, to be honest, and so I took a drive to Norris and it was a beautiful day, it was like 70-something degrees and it was bright and sunny. 00:05:05.632 --> 00:05:21.891 And so I arrived at Norris Dam and pulled into the parking lot right below the dam and I put on my waders because I was going to do some wage fishing, and so I made my way down to the water, and as I was looking around, I was taken in by the beautiful scene that was in front of me. 00:05:21.891 --> 00:05:22.932 It was inescapable. 00:05:22.932 --> 00:05:29.259 So as I looked, the sun was glimmering off of the water in what seemed like rhythmic syncopation. 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:48.745 A light fog displayed the market difference in temperature between the naturally chilled water of the Clinch River and the unseasonably warm sky above the water was still like glass, and the reflection of what was left of the fall colors was truly magnificent to behold. 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:57.867 The soundtrack of nature was far too interesting to disturb it with any kind of artificial noise through headphones or any other device. 00:05:57.867 --> 00:06:06.887 Occasionally, a bird would tweet a slight breeze moving across the water ever so slightly, making a little bit of a sound of a ripple. 00:06:06.887 --> 00:06:15.226 Even humans laughing in the background as they picnic and their dogs splashed near the banks of the river added to the ambiance. 00:06:15.226 --> 00:06:23.665 All that I could do is I pushed my way further into the stream, holding my pole and hoping to cast the perfect cast. 00:06:23.665 --> 00:06:26.351 That would put a smile broad across my face. 00:06:26.351 --> 00:06:43.586 All I could think about was how could anybody see what I'm seeing this day and still not believe that there is a God, that there's a great designer who has planned and purposed everything that we see? 00:06:43.586 --> 00:06:53.348 And even though we live in a world that is, that we're experiencing life in a fallen condition, it's not as pristine as what it was when God created it. 00:06:53.348 --> 00:07:20.360 Still, if in your heart you look at creation and you look up and you ask who are you, god himself will manifest to you, and we've seen this happen, as missionaries have gone into different tribes and people groups that they assumed that had never heard the gospel, and somehow they had some version of it, based upon the fact that they had seen in nature something that seemed other than them. 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:31.649 And they cried out and God gave them dreams or visions, whatever the case might be, and they understood, to a certain degree at least, the fact that there was a God and there was a designer. 00:07:31.649 --> 00:07:33.495 Thank you Our passage. 00:07:33.555 --> 00:07:38.935 This morning the apostle Paul is writing to the Romans and he's excited about going to see them. 00:07:38.935 --> 00:07:41.060 He's been desiring to go and see them. 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:46.656 He's a Roman citizen, but he's never had the chance to go there and preach the gospel, and so he's anticipating that. 00:07:46.656 --> 00:07:53.617 And this book is probably the greatest book that describes the theology of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:07:53.617 --> 00:07:56.293 It's so clear and so spelled out. 00:07:56.293 --> 00:07:59.125 It's very scholarly but it's also understandable. 00:07:59.125 --> 00:08:11.588 And Paul writes it almost like you're in a courtroom or you have a prosecuting attorney and you have the defense attorney and all of these different aspects that you would find in a courtroom and, of course, god being the righteous judge that he is. 00:08:11.608 --> 00:08:15.324 And so, romans, one begins with that kind of thought. 00:08:15.324 --> 00:08:24.016 There's a prosecuting attorney that is talking about the condition of mankind and the way that we got to that condition, and he's passing judgment. 00:08:24.016 --> 00:08:36.481 He's talking about the fact that God passes judgment on people because of the sin and unrighteousness that they have been involved with, and so that's where we pick up this passage this morning. 00:08:36.481 --> 00:08:37.894 So I want to give you a few points from this. 00:08:37.894 --> 00:08:43.315 First of all, a holy God cannot remain holy if he winks at sin. 00:08:43.315 --> 00:08:59.899 It is our desire at times to live outside of God's best, out of his design, out of his order, and to think somehow within ourselves that God will be okay with it, that he'll just look the other way, that he won't pay attention, that it won't bother him. 00:08:59.899 --> 00:09:11.452 But I'm here to tell you that we want a God that's holy and that's set apart and that's other and that's perfect and that doesn't change his mind about things when it comes to righteousness and holiness. 00:09:11.452 --> 00:09:15.063 We want him to be pure and perfect, amen. 00:09:15.826 --> 00:09:33.071 And so because of that, because of the understanding that God cannot wink at sin and we see the condition of the world today we also understand that because of that, that God's wrath is poured out upon mankind and it has been poured out in many times in history. 00:09:33.071 --> 00:09:40.740 We can think of things like the flood where the earth, the inhabitants of the earth, except for one family, was wiped out. 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:48.517 We also think about Sodom and Gomorrah, where two whole cities, where fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed that place. 00:09:48.517 --> 00:09:54.912 And we also know that there will be a day when Jesus Christ will return to this earth, and it's called the day of the Lord. 00:09:54.912 --> 00:10:04.575 And in that day God will separate out the righteous from the wicked, those who have followed after Christ and have pursued him and are followers of him, and those who have not. 00:10:04.575 --> 00:10:09.216 To those who are followers of Christ, he will say enter in to my Father's rest. 00:10:09.216 --> 00:10:17.373 To those, unfortunately, those who have not chosen to follow after Christ, they will hear depart from me, for I never knew you. 00:10:18.414 --> 00:10:27.941 Wrath is not rage, like we think of it, like something that happens as we're driving our automobiles down the car or when our kids do something that just absolutely drives us crazy. 00:10:27.941 --> 00:10:28.744 It's not that. 00:10:28.744 --> 00:10:37.193 Wrath is not a rising emotion, it's not something that takes over and acts out of character, out of nature With God. 00:10:37.193 --> 00:10:45.475 It is the settled bent of his nature and his character towards sin, towards sin. 00:10:45.475 --> 00:10:48.100 God hates sin. 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:53.150 Sin is what Disobedience to God. 00:10:53.150 --> 00:10:55.235 And so God hates that. 00:10:55.235 --> 00:10:56.018 Why does he hate it? 00:10:56.018 --> 00:10:58.652 He doesn't just hate it because of what it is. 00:10:58.652 --> 00:11:09.514 He hates it because it's a rip off, it's a counterfeit, it's the exact opposite of what he actually intended for us to partake in and what he created for us. 00:11:09.514 --> 00:11:16.616 What he planned for us, is better than any of us could ever imagine here in this life and in the life to come. 00:11:16.616 --> 00:11:19.403 It's magnificent, it's amazing. 00:11:19.403 --> 00:11:22.019 And so sin rips us off. 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:30.600 And not only does it rip us off, it separates us from our, from a holy God who desires to have a relationship with us Amen. 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:33.177 So it's important for us to understand. 00:11:33.177 --> 00:11:34.986 The wrath of God is something very real. 00:11:35.328 --> 00:11:38.731 There aren't a lot of churches, unfortunately, that talk about the wrath of God anymore. 00:11:38.731 --> 00:11:44.755 What you hear mostly is God loves you and he has a plan for your life, and thank God, god loves us. 00:11:44.755 --> 00:11:52.836 God is love, and we celebrate the love of God on a weekly basis here at Trinity Community Church. 00:11:52.836 --> 00:12:05.238 But how many of us understand that we cannot know the depth of the love that God has for us unless we understand our own depth of sin and shame and guilt? 00:12:05.238 --> 00:12:14.543 We must be saved from something in order to be saved to something Right. 00:12:14.543 --> 00:12:21.099 So let's not forget that part, that we are sinners in need of the grace of God. 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:27.331 People don't like hearing the truth of God, especially when it comes to the way that he wants things to be done. 00:12:27.331 --> 00:12:28.155 And so what do they do? 00:12:28.155 --> 00:12:30.707 They suppress it, they push it down. 00:12:30.707 --> 00:12:35.504 They attempt to hear anything else except for the truth that comes from God. 00:12:35.504 --> 00:12:45.158 Also, not only do those people, but all of us, since Adam and Eve, except for Jesus Christ, who have been born into this world, do the very same thing. 00:12:45.158 --> 00:12:51.379 We were born in trespasses and sins, separated from God, deserving of God's wrath. 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:55.495 We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:12:55.495 --> 00:13:01.878 We find ourselves in the same place as the rest of the world as far as that is concerned. 00:13:01.878 --> 00:13:08.232 Now, we know there's more to the gospel story that we'll finish up with this morning, but we want to linger here for just a few minutes. 00:13:08.232 --> 00:13:13.524 We deserve the wrath of God to be poured out on us. 00:13:13.524 --> 00:13:18.044 The fact that God chooses not to pour his wrath out on some is the miracle. 00:13:18.044 --> 00:13:29.803 That is an absolute miracle, because if we got what we deserved, we would all receive the penalty of the wrath of God for the sin that we have committed. 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:41.105 Satan's attempt and man's agreement in the Garden of Eden with him, from the fall of man until now, has been to get rid of God by any means necessary. 00:13:41.105 --> 00:13:42.730 Please understand this. 00:13:42.730 --> 00:13:45.640 Satan is not somebody to be messed with. 00:13:45.640 --> 00:13:47.226 He is not your friend. 00:13:47.226 --> 00:13:50.466 He's not somebody cool to hang out with on the weekends. 00:13:50.466 --> 00:13:52.558 He's not anybody to be looked up to. 00:13:52.558 --> 00:13:57.547 Satan's number one job is to steal, kill and destroy. 00:13:57.547 --> 00:14:03.000 He attempted to eliminate God from the equation and God didn't allow that to happen. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.354 And so, because of that, what does he try to do? 00:14:05.354 --> 00:14:09.562 He does everything within his power to attempt to destroy humanity. 00:14:09.562 --> 00:14:21.078 Do you understand that if Satan could wipe out the population of the earth in one generation, he would do it, and we can see his action, his work in action right now. 00:14:21.078 --> 00:14:42.436 If you look at the number of people who are aborted on an annual basis, and now, if people follow, from a sexuality standpoint, what his plan is for the earth, within one generation there would be no procreation, there would be no children that would be born on this planet, and he could once and for all, satan could once and for all say I have eliminated God's family. 00:14:42.436 --> 00:14:44.942 His children are gone. 00:14:48.008 --> 00:14:54.076 When we talk about the things we're going to talk about this morning, we have to understand that it's more than just a difficult conversation. 00:14:54.076 --> 00:15:01.043 It is, there's an evil force that is behind the agenda that we see in this world. 00:15:01.043 --> 00:15:09.167 This agenda is not manmade Men propagate it, but it is made in the from the. 00:15:09.167 --> 00:15:21.235 It comes from the pit of hell, and Satan himself is the one who speaks it into the ears of many, many people, and he starts as young as he possibly can. 00:15:21.235 --> 00:15:32.070 This passage goes on to say that mankind is without excuse because God has revealed himself to all. 00:15:32.893 --> 00:15:35.259 Human history began with people knowing God. 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:42.952 It is not the story of a beast that worshiped idols and then, all of a sudden, one day evolved into a person worshiping one God. 00:15:42.952 --> 00:15:50.500 It didn't happen that way, and I'll have you know that one of Satan's tricks is to convince us that we are evolving. 00:15:50.500 --> 00:16:12.215 Even the word evolution is something that he introduced into the vocabulary back in the 1800s and 1900s, because he's wanting us to believe that somehow mankind is improving, that we're getting better with age, that things are, that we're moving closer to being you know, nirvana or whatever word, utopia, whatever words you want to use as man's best self. 00:16:12.697 --> 00:16:15.668 You've probably heard that saying before right Man's best self. 00:16:15.668 --> 00:16:17.136 I want to be my best self. 00:16:17.136 --> 00:16:19.749 Whatever that case is, it's all about humanism. 00:16:19.749 --> 00:16:20.672 It's all about me. 00:16:20.672 --> 00:16:23.499 It's all about how I can achieve something. 00:16:23.499 --> 00:16:24.000 That's great. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.058 But the truth is we have been devolving. 00:16:27.058 --> 00:16:30.613 There's devolution that is happening, not evolution. 00:16:30.613 --> 00:16:41.971 We continue to fall further and further and further away from God's original intent for mankind and we see this most prominently in today's world in the area of sexuality. 00:16:41.971 --> 00:16:45.114 It's clear for all of us to see. 00:16:45.114 --> 00:16:49.741 But God says that there's no excuse. 00:16:49.741 --> 00:16:54.432 Creation leaves us without an excuse for denying the truth about God. 00:16:54.491 --> 00:17:04.630 As I told my story earlier, general revelation is the theological term that means God revealed himself to humanity through creation, through creation. 00:17:04.630 --> 00:17:18.242 Isn't it interesting that the very symbol that God gave, that he was not going to judge the world with water again and destroy the entire earth with a flood, is the symbol that's being used by Satan to push an agenda? 00:17:18.242 --> 00:17:20.425 He has no right to that symbol. 00:17:20.425 --> 00:17:24.642 God created it and it's his creation. 00:17:24.642 --> 00:17:31.654 From the world around them, humans knew that there was a God who had the wisdom to plan and the power to create. 00:17:31.654 --> 00:17:32.920 It was obvious to all. 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:34.486 This is general revelation. 00:17:34.486 --> 00:17:46.549 They may not have known what to call God or who God was, or didn't have the information that they needed in order to follow after God or become later, as Christ would come to this earth to become followers of Jesus Christ. 00:17:46.549 --> 00:17:49.525 But they understood one thing, and we all understand. 00:17:49.525 --> 00:17:51.832 We have this knowing on the inside of us. 00:17:51.832 --> 00:17:52.654 It's called conscience. 00:17:53.778 --> 00:18:00.654 Conscience is the second gift that God's given us to show us that he is real and there is truth that he promotes that we should be following. 00:18:00.654 --> 00:18:04.046 Conscience is not in this passage by word. 00:18:04.046 --> 00:18:06.634 It doesn't use the word conscience, but it speaks about it. 00:18:06.634 --> 00:18:10.634 Conscience leaves us without an excuse for denying the truth about God. 00:18:10.634 --> 00:18:13.654 Every person is born with a conscience, and what is it? 00:18:13.654 --> 00:18:22.085 It's that something on the inside of us that tells us something's right or something's wrong, something's good or something's evil. 00:18:22.085 --> 00:18:24.634 And how do we know that this is right and appropriate? 00:18:24.634 --> 00:18:29.654 How do we know the difference between right and wrong, even though people are born in their sins and trespasses? 00:18:30.136 --> 00:18:34.654 Because God has given us this gift, he's written it in some ways upon our heart. 00:18:34.654 --> 00:18:47.490 The law has been written on our hearts in some ways, and so even within cultures that have no mention of God or any form of religion that is a part of the government of that nation. 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:52.123 There are rules that are in place, Even if they're unwritten or unspoken. 00:18:52.123 --> 00:19:02.654 People understand this is right, this is wrong, this I can do, this I can't do, and maybe they're not using their conscience to avoid doing the things that they shouldn't do. 00:19:02.654 --> 00:19:06.654 Maybe they're afraid of the consequence of the action that they're performing. 00:19:06.654 --> 00:19:21.166 But still, every tribe, every people, every nation, every culture has this in place Another proof, another sign that there is a God in heaven and he's the one who is the God of order. 00:19:23.057 --> 00:19:27.654 And so, unfortunately, there are some drastic results to denying the truth. 00:19:27.654 --> 00:19:32.547 The result of denying the truth about God is this leaving us to our own devices. 00:19:32.547 --> 00:19:46.826 Can you imagine for one moment what it would be like if God evacuated America, if he chose for just one second to leave us alone completely? 00:19:46.826 --> 00:19:57.084 Can you imagine and we're not going to get into that much, because our next sermon series for Christmas, we're going to be delving into this a little bit what would it look like if Jesus had never come? 00:19:57.084 --> 00:20:03.199 He leaves us to our own devices. 00:20:03.199 --> 00:20:08.406 He pulls back and says you think you figured it out, enjoy. 00:20:08.406 --> 00:20:27.425 Therefore, god gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 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. 00:20:29.375 --> 00:20:36.189 The technical term for this is depravity Depravity it is the fallen nature of every human being. 00:20:36.189 --> 00:20:40.381 Every part of man has been affected by the fall and by sin. 00:20:40.381 --> 00:20:45.428 Our mind, our will, our emotions and our flesh have been corrupted by sin. 00:20:45.428 --> 00:20:58.846 It affects every area of our lives what we do, what we think, how we act, and man's heart, in women's heart, is deceitful and desperately wicked. 00:20:58.846 --> 00:21:02.941 The Bible says we are born dead in transgression and sin. 00:21:02.941 --> 00:21:11.104 We are held captive by a love for sin so that we don't seek God, because we love the darkness and don't understand the things of God. 00:21:11.104 --> 00:21:17.685 This is the world, this is the way that we're born into this world and this is the way that we choose to live without Christ. 00:21:17.685 --> 00:21:28.067 Because of this reality, people suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness and continue to willfully live in sin. 00:21:30.036 --> 00:21:31.740 I'm going to make a radical statement right now. 00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:32.482 Are you ready for this? 00:21:32.482 --> 00:21:36.982 It shouldn't be like this in the church of Jesus Christ. 00:21:36.982 --> 00:21:52.462 We who are born again should live our lives differently than those who are part of the culture of this world, and it should be glaringly obvious the difference. 00:21:52.462 --> 00:22:05.634 And if we resist God long enough and if he pulls his hand back and we become a godless people, it leads to sexual perversion. 00:22:05.634 --> 00:22:14.654 The passage says for this reason, god gave them up to dishonorable passions For their women, exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. 00:22:14.654 --> 00:22:20.654 And the men likewise, gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. 00:22:20.654 --> 00:22:28.634 Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 00:22:28.634 --> 00:22:33.626 My friends, sexual sin is an abomination to God. 00:22:33.626 --> 00:22:50.654 It is not my plan, this is not my idea, this is not my truth, it's not something that I'm preaching in order to try to control something in this congregation. 00:22:50.654 --> 00:23:07.541 This is the word of God and we, as human beings, are required to conform, not to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that is, by the word of God. 00:23:07.541 --> 00:23:21.654 I'm going to list again, like I did last week, the biblical terms for sexual sin and I'm going to ask us to consider are there areas in our own lives before we point our finger at anybody else out in the culture and out in the world. 00:23:21.654 --> 00:23:30.654 We need to ask ourselves within the church are we living our lives as an example for the world, for our children, for our grandchildren and generations to come? 00:23:30.654 --> 00:23:49.605 Are we living our lives sexually in such a way that we are shining the light of Jesus Christ even in that area and especially through that area of our lives, if we're not repent and turn from your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:23:51.894 --> 00:23:55.544 Fornication is any form of sex outside of marriage. 00:23:55.544 --> 00:23:57.146 This is the biblical term. 00:23:57.146 --> 00:24:04.527 It is a sin to be involved in sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. 00:24:04.527 --> 00:24:08.162 If you are involved in this, stop it. 00:24:08.162 --> 00:24:11.682 In Jesus name, repent and be saved. 00:24:11.682 --> 00:24:15.634 Adultery is sex with others while married. 00:24:15.634 --> 00:24:26.970 If you're involved in adultery or you're having adulterous thoughts and you're pursuing forms of adultery, in the name of Jesus, be free and walk free from it. 00:24:26.970 --> 00:24:31.765 Get in the light, be accountable to somebody. 00:24:31.765 --> 00:24:36.445 Prostitution is sex for money. 00:24:36.445 --> 00:24:47.849 If you have been a part in any way of partaking in this, any of the different aspects of it repent, turn and follow Jesus. 00:24:49.457 --> 00:24:53.946 Sexual abuse, which includes rape and anything that is unwanted and harmful. 00:24:53.946 --> 00:25:04.469 My goodness, please, please, I compel you, I beg of you, I beseech you Turn away from this sin. 00:25:04.469 --> 00:25:13.989 Self gratification, which includes such things as pornography and virtual sex masturbation. 00:25:13.989 --> 00:25:16.357 It's sex with oneself. 00:25:16.357 --> 00:25:24.571 The name of Jesus, be free from any form of addiction that has held you in captivity. 00:25:24.571 --> 00:25:26.654 Be free today. 00:25:26.654 --> 00:25:32.065 There is freedom available for you in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:25:32.065 --> 00:25:34.008 Walk in that freedom. 00:25:36.838 --> 00:25:39.682 Sodomy is sex with one's own gender. 00:25:39.682 --> 00:25:46.654 I know it's not popular and I know that it could cause a lot of persecution to come against me and against our church. 00:25:46.654 --> 00:25:48.457 These are not my words. 00:25:48.457 --> 00:25:58.188 These are the words of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, written down by men and women who, throughout the ages, wrote the books of the Bible. 00:25:58.188 --> 00:26:11.148 If you're involved in this type of sin, repent, turn your heart to Jesus and be healed. 00:26:13.715 --> 00:26:29.332 Pedophilia and there will be many that will cringe when we hear this, but I'm telling you, sex with children is becoming something that is high on the list of Satan's attempt to destroy God's decree and divine order. 00:26:29.332 --> 00:26:35.826 There are nations already where it is legal to have sexual relations with children. 00:26:35.826 --> 00:26:39.136 It's coming to our nation. 00:26:39.136 --> 00:26:41.800 If you don't believe me, go to the school library. 00:26:41.800 --> 00:26:49.371 Listen in on some of the health classes that are being taught in elementary schools across our country. 00:26:49.371 --> 00:26:55.022 This should be alarming to us. 00:26:55.022 --> 00:27:01.125 This should not be something that the church just hides and says I hope it goes away. 00:27:01.125 --> 00:27:07.679 It's not going away, it's only going to get worse. 00:27:07.679 --> 00:27:15.523 And finally, bestiality, which is sex with animals. 00:27:15.523 --> 00:27:23.661 It's hard to imagine that that could even be something that would be thought of and I'm telling you, you would be shocked. 00:27:23.661 --> 00:27:25.857 You would be shocked. 00:27:27.454 --> 00:27:28.920 Back to pornography for just a minute. 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:40.027 There was a study that was done in the top five sites that people use for pornography are not just people being naked or having sex with each other. 00:27:40.027 --> 00:28:05.123 They are violence related, violence related, and we have a whole generation of young people growing up having watched this on their devices on their phones, on their iPads, on their computers, without any restriction or restraint, a lot of times because the parents or grandparents that are raising them have no clue the types of things that they're tapping into on their devices. 00:28:05.123 --> 00:28:20.901 And now we have young men, especially, who are not even able to perform normally when it comes to marital relations because they have become so distorted and deceived by that which they have seen on screens. 00:28:20.901 --> 00:28:27.602 Friends, this is the world that we're living in. 00:28:34.055 --> 00:28:36.463 Man didn't create or make the rules. 00:28:36.463 --> 00:28:38.981 The creator holds the patent on his creation. 00:28:38.981 --> 00:28:49.785 Even the animal kingdom understands this and doesn't fall to the same prey, to the same things that we find amongst the human race. 00:28:49.785 --> 00:28:55.904 The animal kingdom still understands that there's a God that's in charge for the most part. 00:28:55.904 --> 00:28:57.288 There are some who are controlled. 00:28:57.288 --> 00:29:04.981 I have not to make a joke, but I have visited people and there was a demon that manifest in their dog while I was there. 00:29:04.981 --> 00:29:12.582 Satan could use animals, but for the most part the animal kingdom still cooperates with God's created order and design. 00:29:12.582 --> 00:29:19.596 It's interesting that they do that and let get human beings find themselves in such forms of the. 00:29:19.615 --> 00:29:24.883 I don't even know the right word to use. 00:29:24.883 --> 00:29:32.681 Perversion, that's the word. 00:29:32.681 --> 00:29:40.883 Perversion is the alteration of something from its original course, meaning or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended. 00:29:40.883 --> 00:29:53.642 Perversion taking something that was good that God called good and very good, and twisting it and turning it so that it becomes something evil and wicked and destructive. 00:29:53.642 --> 00:30:08.306 And if you are free from sexual sin, praise God, thank God for those who are walking free from sexual sin. 00:30:08.306 --> 00:30:20.262 I am so grateful that the Lord has worked in my life to bring me to the point to where I am in a good place as far as that is concerned, but in Romans one, it doesn't stop at sexual sin. 00:30:20.494 --> 00:30:30.523 There's a whole laundry list and I'm sure that if you think deep enough and hard enough, you can find some area that you have some struggle in in this list. 00:30:30.523 --> 00:30:32.000 I'll just run through it again. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:50.203 All manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 00:30:50.203 --> 00:30:55.940 That sounds like watching the nightly news, the cue cards being held up. 00:30:55.940 --> 00:30:59.976 They replaced all of the words that they used with the sin words. 00:30:59.976 --> 00:31:02.621 These are the sin words that they would use. 00:31:07.335 --> 00:31:11.306 Improper thinking about God leads to living life only for oneself. 00:31:11.306 --> 00:31:17.059 It's all about me, it's all about what I want, it's what I desire, it's what I say is true. 00:31:17.059 --> 00:31:22.721 Whatever is true to me is my truth, and you have no right to stand against my truth. 00:31:22.721 --> 00:31:35.585 In fact, you must bow to my truth because it is my idol and I hold it up as God, and so if you're around me, you have to acknowledge my God and bow before him. 00:31:38.134 --> 00:32:02.163 Improper thinking about God causes us to think about ourselves to the point that the 10 commandments are absolutely shredded and thrown away the moral law of God that has been placed in men's heart concerning conscience and using the word conscience has been completely seared in some cases to where people don't know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, and they actually call evil good and good evil. 00:32:02.163 --> 00:32:09.511 The Bible says that that will happen, and in the last days it says in Matthew that people will cast off all restraint. 00:32:09.511 --> 00:32:17.544 Anything that feels like a burden, anything that tries to tell me what I should do, how I should live, how I should be, how I should behave. 00:32:17.544 --> 00:32:18.799 I will cast it off. 00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:22.984 Nobody can tell me who I am and what I'm going to do with my life. 00:32:22.984 --> 00:32:24.096 It's my life. 00:32:24.096 --> 00:32:26.296 Leave me alone. 00:32:26.296 --> 00:32:30.837 Where does this end? 00:32:30.837 --> 00:32:37.762 That ends by another form of improper thinking about God. 00:32:38.674 --> 00:32:42.263 It leads us to encourage others to practice their own form of godlessness. 00:32:42.263 --> 00:32:59.066 The only way we can feel okay about our own sin is if we see other people who have an equal amount of sin or maybe even a little worse than us, and so we encourage them, we implore them to be involved in whatever kinds of activities they want to do. 00:32:59.066 --> 00:33:00.599 You can do whatever you want to do. 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:05.423 You can be whatever you want to be, whatever you imagine is fine for you. 00:33:05.423 --> 00:33:09.241 Don't let anybody limit you, especially not God. 00:33:09.241 --> 00:33:29.157 How many of us feel the pressure even today, many within their own families, to submit to the agenda of the world and the agenda of Satan, to the point to where we don't even know what to say to our children and grandchildren, or struggling with temptation in these very areas? 00:33:29.157 --> 00:33:35.807 My friends, don't give in to the pressure to conform to this world. 00:33:35.807 --> 00:33:51.501 We can speak the truth in love to those that are closest to us and if they know us for who we truly are, they will know that we're being honest and real and coming from a place that is a loving approach. 00:33:51.501 --> 00:33:54.580 But let me tell you this side of it as well. 00:33:54.580 --> 00:34:10.333 When you stand in this way, there's a great risk that you take, because there are going to be people who will walk away from you, even those that are closest to you. 00:34:10.333 --> 00:34:19.800 In some cases and I think of the words of the song, though none go with me. 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:43.322 Still, I will follow Our universities have failed us in this nation For the last 50 years, and maybe even before that. 00:34:44.585 --> 00:34:53.425 They have preached an agenda and a pathway and a pattern that has created the chaos that we live in today. 00:34:53.425 --> 00:35:03.498 It started with them preaching that people have the right to tell others, that they must tolerate them. 00:35:03.498 --> 00:35:05.199 You must tolerate me. 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.166 What does it mean to tolerate? 00:35:07.166 --> 00:35:08.621 It means don't ask, don't tell. 00:35:08.621 --> 00:35:10.300 It means to each his own. 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:13.182 It means see something, say nothing. 00:35:13.182 --> 00:35:16.902 You must be tolerant of me. 00:35:16.902 --> 00:35:44.282 The second thing that they've taught and, by the way, the church is to blame in some degree, because we haven't been speaking about this very much at all, and God forbid that we remain among those numbers that not only don't speak about it, but wave flags in support of something that is an evil agenda meant to destroy God's design and his plan for his creation. 00:35:47.635 --> 00:35:48.840 Next, that you must accept me. 00:35:48.840 --> 00:35:55.661 Not only must you tolerate me, but you must accept me, and when I say me, I mean my sin. 00:35:55.661 --> 00:35:59.601 You must accept my sin. 00:35:59.601 --> 00:36:02.623 You must appreciate my life choices. 00:36:02.623 --> 00:36:04.400 You must be happy for me. 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.443 You must be my friend and my ally. 00:36:07.443 --> 00:36:13.764 How many of us have felt the pressure in the world that we live in to conform in this way? 00:36:13.764 --> 00:36:27.822 The next one is you must support me, you must affirm me, you must celebrate me and my choices. 00:36:27.822 --> 00:36:29.679 You must march with me. 00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:33.023 You must celebrate special days with me. 00:36:33.023 --> 00:37:01.704 You must do everything that you possibly can to let the world around you know that what I'm doing is completely fine in your eyes and that you have no issues with it at all, and if you say anything against it, the final step is that you are a violent person and you must be stopped A secular article that we read. 00:37:02.266 --> 00:37:12.224 By the way, all of these messages have been collaborative and all of the elders have been speaking to this, and we've also had some researchers within the church that have helped us, and we appreciate everybody's input so much. 00:37:12.224 --> 00:37:27.378 It's hard enough just trying to talk about this stuff, but there was an article that we saw that said that many people that identify as LGBTQ are actually heterosexual. 00:37:27.378 --> 00:37:45.702 Maybe they at times have experimented in the past, they've gone back to heterosexual relationships, but they feel the need to be so in tune with those who are expressing themselves in this way that they actually identify themselves as being a part of this community. 00:37:45.702 --> 00:37:57.786 I just recently watched a documentary about Taylor Swift, and part of it is just curiosity, because I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings, but I don't think she's that great of a performer or a singer. 00:37:57.786 --> 00:38:04.641 I mean I'd put Whitney Houston or several CC Winans who have heard Elvis Presley. 00:38:04.641 --> 00:38:14.338 I know we're giving our age here a little bit, but I put a lot of people in front of her, but she's the most popular. 00:38:14.338 --> 00:38:18.967 According to money, she's the most popular singer on the planet. 00:38:19.514 --> 00:38:20.565 It's interesting to watch the documentary. 00:38:20.565 --> 00:38:38.621 She started out with some kind of fortitude as far as who she was and then over time she began to be wooed by this culture and by this agenda, and to the point to where now she says that she is a part of the LGBTQ community, she's in solidarity with them. 00:38:38.621 --> 00:38:51.396 It's really strange, because it's the other thing that's become so obvious and apparent and clear to everybody else is that she's dating a very manly football player named Travis Kelsey. 00:38:51.396 --> 00:38:59.847 So it's kind of strange that she's identifying as this, but she's living out her life as this right, but that's the way that it is. 00:38:59.847 --> 00:39:06.721 We see it in Hollywood, we see it in every form of popular culture, every TV show it used to be. 00:39:06.721 --> 00:39:26.998 10, 15 years ago you could watch a TV show without seeing the agenda raised, and yet now you can't even watch what would have been considered a good family show without something being forced into it that is not shouldn't, that has no need to really be a part of the storyline at all that's so strong. 00:39:27.735 --> 00:39:29.800 The agenda is that Satan is pushing. 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:35.195 Satan is pushing, satan is pushing to attack God's purpose. 00:39:35.195 --> 00:39:40.938 So what do we do with all of this? 00:39:40.938 --> 00:40:11.512 Well, we go back, two verses before all of this chapter, in the same chapter, and it says for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 00:40:11.512 --> 00:40:22.135 My friends, the hope of the world is, and always will be, jesus Christ, amen, amen. 00:40:27.244 --> 00:40:35.284 Instead of trying to change someone's behavior in the world that's living within these cultural norms, we need to be asking ourselves do they know Jesus? 00:40:35.284 --> 00:40:40.764 And if they don't know Jesus, how am I representing Jesus to them? 00:40:40.764 --> 00:40:49.199 Am I living my life in my marriage in a way that represents Jesus to them and represents God's divine order? 00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:54.365 Am I caring for my kids the way that God takes care of his children? 00:40:54.365 --> 00:40:59.726 Not perfectly, obviously, but desiring to follow after him and do things his way? 00:40:59.726 --> 00:41:01.760 Am I walking in love? 00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:04.001 Am I a good employee at work? 00:41:04.001 --> 00:41:10.467 Am I somebody that at school that others know that they can trust. 00:41:10.467 --> 00:41:17.416 Even though they may not agree from what they believe in, they still know that they can trust this person because they care. 00:41:18.715 --> 00:41:21.101 What is our heart for the lost? 00:41:21.101 --> 00:41:32.822 And if you are a believer and you're dealing with these things, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:41:32.822 --> 00:41:36.063 Romans 12, the same book, same author. 00:41:36.063 --> 00:41:44.960 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:41:44.960 --> 00:42:11.427 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect Husbands, preach the gospel to your family and, for those who don't have husbands or fathers in your life, preach the gospel to each other. 00:42:11.427 --> 00:42:13.619 Preach the gospel to yourself. 00:42:13.619 --> 00:42:20.806 It is the power of God and it's what we need. 00:42:20.806 --> 00:42:27.565 It's the antidote to the vitriol and venom that we see within the system of this world. 00:42:30.474 --> 00:42:37.581 And if you're a believer that's struggling with temptation in these areas, I want you to know that we are not here to judge or cast stones. 00:42:37.581 --> 00:42:42.302 We are here to pray with you and for you. 00:42:42.302 --> 00:42:46.822 All of us are sinners saved by grace. 00:42:46.822 --> 00:42:50.378 Book Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13,. 00:42:50.378 --> 00:42:52.585 No temptation has overtaken you. 00:42:52.585 --> 00:42:53.876 That is not common to man. 00:42:53.876 --> 00:42:58.972 God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. 00:42:58.972 --> 00:43:06.565 But with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. 00:43:09.554 --> 00:43:18.847 We can follow after Jesus, we can obey his commandments, we can walk in truth because he gives us the grace to do it. 00:43:18.847 --> 00:43:33.625 Jesus lived his life perfectly and took our sins and our failings upon himself as he laid himself down on the tree that he created and died the death that we deserve. 00:43:33.625 --> 00:43:44.719 And he proved to us that he overcame sin, satan, death, grave and hell by being raised from the dead on the third day. 00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:55.324 And the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, as believers, lives in us, and he will give us the power, our mortal bodies. 00:43:55.324 --> 00:44:00.365 He will give us the ability to follow after him and to obey his commandments. 00:44:00.365 --> 00:44:07.965 We have what we need to be holy as God is holy. 00:44:07.965 --> 00:44:11.597 Let's pray together. 00:44:20.083 --> 00:44:26.139 Father God, you know there's just no way to say all of the words that I would like to say this morning. 00:44:26.139 --> 00:44:42.697 But, lord, I pray that those things that needed to be heard by the individuals that you have listening to this message, father, I pray that they would not be words of condemnation that would cause them to run away from you, but, lord, I pray that they would be words of conviction for all of us that we would run to you. 00:44:42.697 --> 00:44:58.539 We run to you and acknowledge to you our desperate need for a Savior, not just to save us from hell, but to save us so that we can live this life according to the order that you have described and defined for us. 00:44:58.539 --> 00:45:30.248 Lord, I just pray, in the mighty name of Jesus, that you would give us your grace, not only for our own lives but, lord, that we would have the ability to be able to speak to those that we care so much about, that are struggling in these areas and have been tossed around by this world and the culture of this world, and have had experiences, even as young children, that have caused them to believe that this is what's normal, especially in the area of sexuality. 00:45:30.534 --> 00:45:32.539 Lord, I just pray in Jesus' name for freedom. 00:45:32.539 --> 00:45:46.577 I pray for the gift of freedom, grant the gift of repentance and freedom for those who are trapped by Satan's evil devices and schemes. 00:45:46.577 --> 00:45:56.556 And help us, lord, to be of those who stand for truth and righteousness, understanding that that will cause persecution to come, and we're not. 00:45:56.556 --> 00:45:58.103 That's not our goal. 00:45:58.103 --> 00:46:05.567 But, lord, we know that you've promised us that as we stand for truth and righteousness, that we will be persecuted. 00:46:05.567 --> 00:46:08.063 Help us to be strong in the face of persecution. 00:46:08.063 --> 00:46:12.945 Give us boldness and courage and stability and strength. 00:46:12.945 --> 00:46:20.007 Help us from the attack of the enemy to try to weaken our faith or our trust. 00:46:20.007 --> 00:46:24.643 And, lord, we do pray for this nation. 00:46:24.643 --> 00:46:30.784 God and Lord, we know that without a great awakening that there's no hope for our nation. 00:46:30.784 --> 00:46:56.438 And, father, we pray that you would rend the heavens and come down and reveal yourself in all of your glory through creation, through conscience and also through the power of your spirit, actively engaging those who are sick, depressed and defeated, entrapped in sin and shame. 00:46:56.438 --> 00:47:00.059 Would you save those who? 00:47:00.059 --> 00:47:04.655 We have no ability to save ourselves, and they have no ability either. 00:47:04.655 --> 00:47:07.278 But you can do it. 00:47:07.278 --> 00:47:19.599 And so we cry out to you, god of mercy, move in our hearts, change our hearts, change our lives and change this nation, change the culture of this world. 00:47:19.599 --> 00:47:25.766 Let me ask these things in Jesus' mighty name, amen. 00:47:27.197 --> 00:47:33.641 The prayer team is going to be here now for anybody who needs prayer specifically, and this is just the beginning of the conversation. 00:47:33.641 --> 00:47:39.960 We're going to have a couple more weeks where we'll be discussing how we can talk about this in our culture. 00:47:39.960 --> 00:47:58.244 I did not have enough time today to really get into all of the specifics, but we have a couple more weeks left in this series and this will be a 2.0, I'm sure, and a 3.0 in a weeks and months to come, because things are not as much as we'd like to say it. 00:47:58.244 --> 00:48:03.297 Things are not lessening or getting easier in the culture. 00:48:03.297 --> 00:48:10.246 They're actually getting much harder, and so we want to equip you to be able to stand in the day of adversity. 00:48:10.246 --> 00:48:35.396 And, trust me, when we see Jesus and we and he says to us well done, it won't be because we've made ourselves righteous or perfect, but it will be because he's washed us clean and he's also changed our desires, our thoughts, our actions and, for the most part, in our lives. 00:48:35.396 --> 00:48:38.610 Our pursuit is to follow after Him.