Results of Genuine Salvation

Transcript

GRM 1165
07/10/2016
Results of Genuine Salvation
Romans 6; Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to talk about some things that are on my mind and are current and one that is a concern to me. It has to do with the whole doctrine of biblical sanctification, but let me back into that. Just the whole issue of homosexuality, transgender. Both the local papers had front page article in one and Nebraska is challenging the federal authority. Nebraska took the lead Friday in ten states to fight against new federal guidance on school locker room and bathroom use by transgender students. The conflict that goes on. The government carries a lot of weight, however. In 2015-2016 fiscal year the Nebraska Department of Education received more than $328 million in federal funding for K-12 education. Of course their weight is you do what we tell you or you don't get any money. Rather persuasive argument in many ways.

The Omaha paper had not only that but the University of Nebraska at Omaha is unveiling an archive of LGBTQIA plus community. I mean, the initials just keep going. LGBTQIA stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans spectrum, queer spectrum, intersex, asexual, non-straight and gender non-conforming peoples. And of course the University wants to start to have a collection in the library about the history of these important people in the movement. Once it starts there is no end to what we will go to promote that which is contrary to the Bible.

One area that is concerning to us as a church is something going on in Iowa. I downloaded this from a news site here just recently. Churches fear Iowa law will silence pastors, open church bathrooms to transgender. Congregations across the state of Iowa are in grave danger of having their pastors silenced in the pulpits over, and I'm just going to call it homosexual instead of saying all the initials again, public accommodation rules, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. And a church in Des Moines has filed what is known as a pre-enforcement challenge, arguing that a portion of the Iowa Civil Rights Act is a threat to first amendment freedoms. And a legal firm that specializes in religious liberty lawsuits is representing the church in its lawsuit. The issue involves the Commission's interpretation of the 2007 Iowa Civil Rights Act, specifically about public accommodation. The law includes a facility use mandate that requires anyone subject to the law to open sensitive areas to people based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. Does the law apply to churches? The Commission answered that question in a brochure on the matter. Does the law apply to churches? Here's what the brochure says. Sometimes. Where qualifications are not related to a bonafide religious purpose, churches are still subject to the law's provisions, now note this, I'm skipping parts of this, or a church service open to the public.

And we've had to deal with this in prior days. Our services are public, the public is invited so according to this, we would have the potential to be subject if we had to deal with such a law in our state. And you realize if it happens in one state, they tend to spread. What would we say? We are not a public service so only those who are a member at Indian Hills can attend here? And then the other question. Who gets to decide what is and is not a bonafide religious activity? The executive director of the Commission told the writer of this article they would have to investigate each activity on a case by case basis. The statute requires the Commission to review whether the qualifications are related to a bonafide religious purpose. Now you see what happens, the government has to come in and decide whether what you are doing is really a bonafide religious purpose. They have examples in this but . . . Are youth camps qualified? And we invite others to come to those. We are going to have Vacation Bible School; we invite kids who do not come to this church to come, we bring some in, in church vehicles and vans.

So the government is going to dispatch agents to investigate the religious activities of Iowa churches to determine if they are in fact religious. And the head of the largest homosexual organization in Iowa said this, as a church they can believe whatever they want; they cannot, however, break the law when providing public accommodations. If they remove from, you have to be tolerant of different opinions and different activities to you must support our activities. And it becomes a matter of what is public policy. And certain things that have happened and rulings come down in the past from the high court. There have been cases where it says that the public welfare supersedes certain religious practices. So you can see where this is going.

And the article goes on. This is an unprecedented move, the chief of staff of this legal office, this is an unprecedented move by a government agency to mandate that any time a church opens its door to the public, that it automatically qualifies as a place of public accommodation. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. In this the law firm's director of litigation notes the Commission's brochure means churches would be required to let transgendered individuals use the bathroom of their choice. It further compels our client, the specific church they are representing, to use specific pronouns when referring to certain gender identities and prohibits our client from even teaching its religious beliefs.

Now to date no one has filed a suit so this is a preliminary suit to stop it before it happens. But you get an idea where we are going and what lies ahead. That's the world. What concerns me is how the pressure of the world presses in on believers and we begin to deal with matters like homosexuality in a different way than the Bible says they must be dealt with. I want to be clear, this is not a new issue. I was involved in debates and discussions on this very subject thirty years ago, but it is a concern and it is growing.

One of the theological journals I receive is The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, known as JETS. But the Evangelical Theological Society is a society of evangelical scholars. If I remember correctly one of the qualifications is you have to have a graduate degree to be a member, not just a bachelor's degree but at least a Master's Degree. Many professors from evangelical schools are part of it, there are many good men who are part of this organization. But like any organization it begins to get broader and I just want to refer to an article that appeared in the most recent journal. And I'll be just touching on highlights, it is a 15-page article and it is a scholarly journal so it has scholarly documentation and so on. It is entitled Washed and Still Waiting: An Evangelical Approach to Homosexuality. It's written by a man who is an assistant professor of New Testament in a theological school on the east coast. He has written a book in 2010, Washed and Waiting, Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality. Now what concerns me is this is published in a journal that is to reflect evangelical convictions. And I think what it does is destroy the biblical doctrine of sanctification, and it is a way in which believers become conformed to the world and are softened to the world's view of things and become more accepting of it. And basically, to give you the substance before I read you some statements, this man believes he is a homosexual Christian. Now he believes it would be wrong, and this is where it gets confusing because you read it and say I don't know whether, maybe he is a believer. He says his view, and he put this in the book that he wrote, homosexuality was not God's original creative intention for humanity, that it is on the contrary a tragic sign of human nature and relationships being fractured by sin. Therefore that homosexual practice goes against God's express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.

You say, that sounds good. But then his next statement. On the other hand I was equally unable to locate myself in the paradigm of deliverance from or diminishment of my same sex attractions. I have never experienced a dramatic healing/reversal of my homosexual orientation. I have remained exclusively attracted to members of my own sex. And so the terminology used begins to break down things. And I remember my discussions and debates many years ago over this. He identifies himself and he has this in his book, I am a homosexual Christian. He says and these are the terms he will use, same sex attracted Christian, gay and lesbian believer, Christian believers who are gay or lesbian.

Now this creates a problem. We have moved homosexuality into a different category, it is something that you are but to practice it physically would be sinful. Now what we have done is make this sinful condition something that is not dealt with in your conversion. Now we are not saying that God takes away every desire for sin. If He did, we would have sinless perfection. And just looking out over this congregation, not even one; and this congregation looking up here, not even one. So he confuses the idea that since I still have a desire that way, that must be what I am. Therefore my identity is a homosexual Christian.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6, and I'll read a little bit more of his article in a moment. Paul writing to the Corinthians and we'll just pick up verse 9, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.” Now his statement is, this is only true of those homosexuals that lost all their desire when they became believers. We have all heard testimonies of someone, let's use drunkenness. That said, I placed my faith in Christ and from that day on I never had another desire for a drink. And sometimes it works that way, but it doesn't work that way all the time for everyone. He thinks that because he still has a desire and an attraction to a member of the same sex, therefore this doesn't apply to him. But if that's the case, effeminate, homosexuals, that's just one of a list. I guess then we might introduce ourselves and say, I'm a fornicator Christian, I'm an idolater Christian, I'm a drunkard Christian, I'm a thief Christian. I mean, is that our identity? The sin that we indulged in, that controlled us, that enslaved us before our conversion now continues to be part of our identity? The beautiful thing is what he says in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “Such were some of you. You are washed, cleansed, sanctified, set apart for God, declared righteous.” This idea that you carry this identity over.

He is concerned about how practically a non-practicing but still desiring homosexual Christian can prove, live out and celebrate the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in homosexual terms. Well, now you see we have moved homosexuality out of the realm of being like other sins, although he did admit it is contrary to the purpose of God from creation. This is why these kinds of ideas seep into the church, because he seems sincere, he seems earnest, he is looking for solution and he can't deny what he is. He has these desires. But wait a minute, no matter what sin here, you probably did it because you had a desire for it, right? Some people have destroyed their lives by their desire for drink, they are drunkards. Destroyed their homes. Well, I'm a drunkard Christian. Well, you ought to get saved.

In my discussions many years ago I said, you say you are a homosexual Christian. I say you are one or the other—you are a homosexual who needs to become a Christian or you are a Christian who used to be a homosexual. If the grace of God does not deal with all sin and all kinds of sin, then we are hopeless. And we all know what it is like as believers to find ourselves drawn, and you know we are not all drawn to the same sins. That's why we sometimes look and say, why would he even want to do that? That's disgusting. But my sins aren't so disgusting to me. Your sins are very disgusting to me. My sins, I understand, they just are attractive or I wouldn't do them.

So he goes on and I can't even count the many times he refers to this. I had to describe my life of discipleship to Christ as a life that was both sexually abstinent or celibate and also same sex attracted or gay. I guess the drunk has to say he has to describe himself as a drunk, maybe he still has a desire for that. The fornicator, the slanderer, the liar. I'm a liar Christian. You ought to get saved, you're not a Christian in the biblical sense. He is concerned for pastors to understand the relevance of how to deal with celibate Christian believers who are gay or lesbian and same sex attracted Christians, same sex attracted believers. We are in trouble here.

A few years ago, and I probably still have the article somewhere in my piles of collected material, there was a psychiatrist who had graduated from perhaps the most prestigious university on the east coast. He was being sentenced to prison for child sexual activity. Do you know what he said in the courtroom? I was born this way, why can't you people accept it? Sounds like what we are saying here, this man says he was born this way. We were born as fallen creatures, in sin did my mother conceive me. We call it original sin so we were born with the corruption within us. We were born and as we grew the sin enslaved us and we were attracted to different sins. But not everybody is involved in the same sins. We treat drunkenness to take it out of this. Some people just have a desire. We say his Dad was an alcoholic, it probably runs in the family. Well, whatever, it was something that enslaved, that controlled. But what is the solution? The provision that God has made.

You know where he goes with this, there has been a change with the coming of Christ and in Genesis 1-2 and through the Old Testament God's plan was marriage. But that change with the coming of Christ, He sets the example. He was a single celibate and He said some are celibate for the sake of the kingdom. So he would put it in an eschatological perspective. And didn't Jesus say in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage? So we ought to understand the celibate life is the preferable life, but some are gifted for marriage. Just turns what Paul wrote, celibacy is a gift. He has turned it around, we ought to be promoting celibacy and recognize marriage as a gift. And you know what he says, here he talks about having this strong desire for a member of the same sex and he gives three things you should do and the third one is learn to establish deep, loving relationships with members of the same sex. I'm not against friendships, men have their friends, women have women friends. Here you have someone who is sexually attracted to another of the same sex and you are going to establish a close, loving relationship? You are asking for trouble. It's like saying here is a man who says I'm not going to be married but I have a strong sexual attraction to a woman. Well, you just ought to establish a close loving relationship with a woman but don't have sex. That's the solution.

This is what he is helping the church understand, how you deal with homosexual Christians. Now if someone tells you I am a homosexual Christian, stop them and say, that's an oxymoron. I didn't say you are a moron, I said it's an oxymoron. It's two contradictory things. That's like saying I'm a drunkard Christian, I'm a liar Christian, I'm a swindler Christian. If that's what you are, you need to become a Christian in the biblical sense. If you are a Christian, that's what you were.

Let's see where I want to take you, a couple passages. Come to Mark 7 and while you come to Mark 7 let me just remind you of Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.” It's deceitful. We have to be careful dealing with sin. Only God knows the depths of depravity of the human heart. We ought to be sure we understand the biblical truth on this. This is what we are at heart and even as a redeemed person doesn't mean I never have any desire for anything sinful. That would be a lie because James says we all stumble in many ways. And if you can control your tongue, you would be a perfect man because that's the last thing you get under control because it just blurts out things it should never comment on.

Mark 7, Jesus is addressing the internal vs. the external, and it's not what you eat that defiles you spiritually, it doesn't go into your heart He said. And if you don't get the point He says it goes into your stomach and is passed out as an elimination. Verse 20, “That which proceeds out of the man is what defiles the man. From within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man.” You'll note in these lists they are not all exactly the same. These are just examples. The point is it is out of this deceitful and desperately wicked heart there comes all kinds of sin. In light of what the Scripture says that would include homosexuality. Now I can't put that at a different level. I'm a murderer Christian. This is ridiculousness.

Come over to Romans 6. You are familiar with the flow of the book of Romans, we've studied it. You begin in Romans 1:18 after introductory comments and over to Romans 3:20 he talks about sin. And when he is done he has demonstrated that everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, no exceptions, is a sinner under the condemnation of God. Then in Romans 3:21 through 5:21 he talks about the righteousness of God provided in the finished work of Christ. Then with Romans 6-8 he talks about the life that those who have been cleansed and declared righteous by God now live. So he begins asking the question, and we're just going to highlight some things here. If you are not into the details, you can get the details on the Sound Words website, as we have worked through this. Or stop at Sound Words, they'll help you out.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?” Right away he realizes grace can be corrupted by sinful thinking. In Romans 5 he talks about how great and the multitudinous sin of man, but God's grace was greater. And we sing grace greater than our sin. So he deals with it. And somebody is going to say, well, our desire is to bring glory to God. When I sin, His grace covers my sin and washes me clean and God is glorified. So therefore maybe it is good to sin. Never underestimate how men will pervert the Scripture. Paul's answer is such a thought is impossible, “May it never be.” And the point is “How shall we who died to sin continue to live in it?” So you don't understand what happens in salvation. That's what is wrong with this article in the evangelical theological journal, it's a denial of the biblical doctrine of sanctification. And he ends up going to Roman Catholics to find out and gets some kind of doctrine of celibacy because there is not enough in Scripture. I mean, how lost are we?

“Or don't you know,” if you have been identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, that happens in Spirit baptism. “By one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body.” That's a spiritual transformation. Just like what you take physically into your body can't defile you, a physical act like water baptism can't cleanse you. Spirit baptism does that. Paul deals with that in Colossians 2 when he talks about you have to have the circumcision of the heart and you have to have the baptism of the Spirit. Water baptism is just to be a visible presentation of what has occurred spiritually.

“Those who have been identified with Christ have been identified with Him in His death.” Verse 4, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, too, might walk in newness of life.” This is what salvation in Christ does. How do you get free from the slavery of homosexuality and that same sex love? The same way you get free from every other sin, you die. Simple solution. You die spiritually. The purpose is, the end of verse 4, “that we might walk in newness of life.” This article he is trying to figure out how I bring what I was before I even got converted over into my new life as a Christian and merge them together because I haven't really been made new. Unless you are saying the new man in Christ has sinful desires, you don't even want to go there.

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this,” these are wonderful verses for us as believers. “Knowing this, that our” old self, “old man was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with.” He's talking about our body as controlled by sin, as you see when we move along in the context. We used our body and its parts to fulfill sinful desires, but it was done away with, katargeo, a word that means its power is broken. Doesn't mean it ceases to exist, the old man doesn't cease to exist but its power and control to enslave us has been broken. “So that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” There is the freedom that we talk about that comes in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin.

I mean, this man thinks if I am celibate, that's the best I can do but I still am enslaved to those old desires and there has to be a way to mesh the two as though that's what I am as a new person in Christ. It's not. And this is a tragedy in the church. We have all but abandoned any understanding of what biblical salvation means. Justification is not the same as sanctification, but you never have justification without sanctification because we died with Christ and were raised with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

Why? Verse 7, “He who has died is freed from sin.” That's why I say we are not in a crusade to try to get the unbeliever to change his behavior. He is a slave to sin. That doesn't mean he can't quit one sinful practice and now he'll be good. You understand a homosexual who quits practicing being a homosexual gets married and has a heterosexual family and goes to a religious meeting, he is no closer to God's salvation than he was. We want to be careful, that's a lie of moral reform. It's a denial of the Gospel. What is the Gospel? “Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, He was raised.” And when you place your faith in Him you are spiritually identified with Him in His death, in His burial and His resurrection. It is the Gospel that is under attack. It didn't really set you free from sin.

And so verse 8, “If we have died with Christ, we believe we will live with Him.” That whole purpose. When Christ died, was buried, was raised, He was done with sin. He will return a second time to this earth but Hebrews 9 says not to deal with sin. To judge sin, but everything necessary to take care of sin and its penalty and so on was dealt with. He came the first time to be the sacrifice, but now that He has been raised from the dead He no longer has to deal with sin.

So now there are a series of commands that shows our responsibility. This is just not automatic and we don't want to fool ourselves. And be careful, you will get yourself re-entangled with sin if you do not understand what God says. You'll note the responsibility, first command here. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin.” So the reality of it, that's what has happened to me spiritually. So I think I don't have to do anything? I do, I am commanded to be considering, present imperative. Some of you are taking a Greek class, may not have gotten this far yet. A present imperative, a command given in the present tense—you be continuing to reckon yourselves, logizomai. It's an accounting term where you carefully work through and come to the conclusion. In light of this truth you be considering yourselves dead to sin. That's my responsibility. God did His work, now I am responsible to live in light of that work. Not in my own power but that was innate in the new life He has given me in Christ. But I haven't been made a vegetable that I just sit there. Now I exercise my will to see myself as God says I am, now alive in Christ.

Second command, verse 12, “Therefore do not,” another present imperative, “do not be letting sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” He didn't say there wouldn't be any lust, but I am not to allow sin. The old man's power was broken, sin nature, the flesh, however you want to . . . Means its power to enslave me was broken. But I must exercise my will not to allow it to be lord in my life, to reign in this physical body that I obey its lusts, desires. You see we have moved to a new realm. How are you going to talk about being a same sex attracted believer? That's what I was as an old person, enslaved to sin. Now I am not to be letting sin reign that I would obey its lusts, I don't have to. One thing said by one of my college professors many years ago. I never forgot it and it just has been confirmed in the Word—you as a believer never have to sin. Every time you sin, it's because you chose to sin. You know, that's liberating. We've been set free. I'm not saying I never sin, James says we all stumble in many ways. We don't believe in sinless perfection, but every time I have sinned since the day I was saved, it was because I wanted to. Because the problem is the appeal of sin is still there. There is a certain pleasure that appeals to my fallen nature and I just would enjoy it. But that's the great danger. You see the responsibility, don't be letting sin reign in your mortal body.

“Don't go on,” another command, present tense, “Don't go on presenting the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness.” Starts with the mind. This person thinks as long as I don't do the physical activity, my mind . . . Now wait a minute, “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the making new of your mind.” So you don't go on using the parts of our body to serve sin. But we must “present,” aorist imperative, strong command, “yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,” the parts of your body, “as instruments of righteousness to God.” And you know we don't go back on my feeling, my desires; I fall back on the Scripture. It doesn't matter that I desire to do something, I have to decide is it biblical for me to do it.

Now we want to be careful and Paul presents it clearly here. Look at verse 14, the statement, the first part of that statement you ought to have fixed in your mind and where you can find it. “For sin shall not be master over you.” Doesn’t get any better than that. That's because of what God has done for me in Christ. Sin will not be my master. You are not under law but under grace. Some of the reform people say that dispensationalists are anti-nomian because we don't believe we are under the Mosaic Law. Well, Paul didn't believe it, either. And if you are under the Law you are in a bad spot because the Law provided no enablement and was always God's grace that provided it.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace?” Such a thought is inconceivable. “Do you not know,” now note this, “when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or obedience resulting in righteousness. Thanks be to God, though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient,” basically to the Gospel, “and having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” The transformation brought about by God's salvation could not be any greater. Now there are still the struggles because sometimes we want to enjoy a little bit of the pleasure of sin. And it is pleasurable, we wouldn't do it if it weren't. I don't put my thumb down and hit it with a hammer. Why? That's not pleasurable. But sin? Now some people's sin doesn't appeal to me at all. And I look at them and say why would they even think of doing that? That's gross. But certain sins appeal to different ones of us and you understand they have the power to enslave.

We became slaves of righteousness, and this has been a human analogy, verse 19, “just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness,” that's just the course of sin, it gets worse and worse. “So now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” When you were a slave of sin, you didn't do anything that was pleasing to God, you didn't serve righteousness, you didn't get any benefit, fruit out of that. “But now,” verse 22, “having been freed from sin, enslaved to God” you have your fruit, “resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life.”

I have to be careful, I want to put distance between myself and my sin. And one of the things you learn as you grow, you learn some sins have a particular appeal to you. Do you know what you have to do? You have to put distance between you and those sins. I have never had a problem with alcohol, I never have drunk alcohol because I was always afraid I would have a problem with alcohol. So why put myself on that course? I used to go to the city missions in Philadelphia and see the drunks and say, “why would anybody even start this road?” I'm not against, I don't think the Bible says you can't have a social drink, it isn't for me. But for someone that drunkenness has been their problem and they say now I have been “clean.” I trusted Christ, I've gone through the struggle and all but it has been five years since I had a drink. And I think I'm on top of it now, I think I could have a drink or two and it would be all right. That's a deception. You know what happens with people often that do that? Pretty soon, because the character of that sin and its attraction to me, all it needs is a hold on me and pretty soon it wraps its tentacles. I was watching on TV an octopus and the diver was down there, he thought he could fiddle around with this octopus, and all of a sudden that octopus comes out, wraps its tentacles around him and his mask is being pulled off. And you say what happened? You just don't go dabble. There are certain . . . I want to put as much distance between that sin and me. That's what I tell people who are struggling with sin—every day you put distance as a believer between you and that sin is a day you get stronger. But don't get the idea that now I think I am strong enough to handle it. That's part of the trap of the devil.

But we've been set free. This is a liberating concept. It is discouraging as it can be when I sin as a Christian and I think, Gil, how long have you been a believer? Why would you have done that? Why would you have said that? Why would you . . . ? All I can say is thank you, Lord, I chose to do it. Nobody else made me do it but it's by your grace I am free from being slave to that, and I don't want to do it again. Now often I do, but I never have to. And this liberating principle. That's what Christian growth is, we are growing to be more like Christ. These things that ensnared us, they may not be all taken away at once and now I don't have any struggles. What did Paul say? I discipline my body and beat it black and blue and bring it into subjection. Not necessarily easy, it is still growing, but the longer you are a believer and the more faithfully we walk with the Lord, in that sense “the easier” it gets. And I learn certain sins will probably always hold an attraction for me in my fallen state with the old man present, even though its power has been broken, and he is always saying that would be good, you could enjoy it for a little bit, you can do that. Because once he gets one of his tentacles on me and I find out I did enjoy that, then he'll wrap another one around and pretty soon I'll say, how did I get into this mess?

I have Christians who have come and talked to me, I don't know how I got here. You read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Christian was traveling and he got off the road and onto another road but it wasn't far off. And so he traveled, he felt good, I still see the road. And all of a sudden he realized, where am I? I don't even know where the road was that I got off, but I am on the wrong road. And he had to retrace and get back. Sometimes we need to say I need to come back and look at Romans 6 and say Lord, this is what you did for me in Christ, I am free. And in a miserable truth I have sinned against you and I have indulged in sin. But you know I come to realize how wretched it is. I may have to ask myself if I am a Christian, analyze. But Lord I believe what you have promised, I want to get on track.

So all this to say all that is going on in the world and we see the world moving to this, pretty soon we see the pressure for Christians to be conformed to the world. And now we have an understanding of homosexuals, we want to welcome them in the church and this person can come and say, as they become part of our fellowship, I'm a homosexual Christian. And we say, that's fine, we welcome you, we love you. Wait a minute, we ought to say wait a minute, that can't be any more than a person says I am glad to be attending your church, I'm a drunkard Christian. You would immediately say, something is wrong. I'm a liar Christian. What is that? But we can say I'm a same sex attracted Christian, I am a gay Christian. Well, I don't want to be offensive, of course you are welcome. I want to find out, is he saved? He is not both. He may be confused on the biblical doctrine of salvation and the resultant sanctification. But he is not “a gay Christian,” she is not a “lesbian Christian.” They need to understand the freedom that has been given in Christ so they begin to live it.

I don't doubt this man is struggling. He has written a book on homosexuality, he already says he is attracted and has desires for other men. He spends his time writing a book on it and then all his footnotes are reading material that someone else . . . It's like a person who has been a drunk writing that book on drinking. I tell people, put it out of your mind. Don't think about it. This is going to sound unspiritual, don't pray about it. Some people say I'm going to get down on my knees and pray, Lord, deliver me from this desire for drinking. You know how much I would like to have a glass of Jack Daniels right now, you know how good it would feel going down and how . . . You get up from your prayer and run out and buy a bottle of Jack Daniels. Then you are twice as depressed because my prayer led me to sin. What happened? Don't think about it, put it out of your mind. Focus on what God says you are—you are a new creature in Christ. Don't bring it into your mind. I want my mind made new. This man talks so much about being a same sex attracted Christian, no wonder he hasn't gotten away from it. I almost am attracted that way after reading everything he writes about it. I mean, you immerse yourself in it. Somebody needs to talk to him about biblical sanctification, quit writing about it, quit reading about it, get on with your new life in Christ and He'll make the difference.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches we have in Christ. How easily we as Your children forget, become complacent and fail to appreciate the greatness of our salvation, that in Christ we have been made new. We are new creatures, old things have passed away, new things have come. We are not what we were, we are now new in Christ, free in Christ, enabled and empowered. Our privilege to draw upon the provisions You have made to live for You day by day in the glorious freedom Christ has given us. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.