The Role of Men and Women in God’s Plan

Transcript

GRM 1257
1/24/2021
The Role of Men and Women in God’s Plan
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to continue what we talked about this morning. It’s about God’s plan for male and female in His creation of human beings. We like to talk in generic terms these days. I was reminded in our first hour how instructions have been given to schoolteachers to not refer to the kids in the classes by gender-specific terms. Don’t call them guys. Call them students. Don’t refer to them as boys and girls. Don’t say the boys will line up here and the girls will line up here. No. All that gender-specific kind of terminology… We just want to be aware of it because what your kids or grandkids face when they go to school not always directly and overtly… I shared with you, and I meant to pull it out of my file but I didn’t, back in the 1980s I was given a series of pamphlets. I’ve mentioned this before, by one of those who was in the school system. They were given to teachers to show them how they could begin to condition the kids for an acceptance and understanding that these relationships of homosexual kind, but not necessarily promoting the homosexual practice itself. But from the early age, these are alright. It can be two men instead of a man and a woman for the family, or two women. So these things go on and we’re not surprised. It’s the world.

Two verses just as background before we look at specifics. Come to the book of Proverbs, chapter 14. Proverbs 14:34. It’s a good reminder for us. Again, part of what we are doing, and much of what we do as believers who have been called out of the world and experienced God’s redemption, we are instructed not to allow ourselves to be shaped by the world. Sometimes, initially, earlier in our conversion, we’re gung-ho. We want to be all out for the Lord and take no captive’s approach. I want to be a testimony everywhere. There’s something refreshing about that, but over time, we can drift and settle into what’s called a comfortable Christianity. Sometimes I even hear churches described, well, it’s a comfortable church with a comfortable Christianity. What does that mean? Well, we don’t want to do anything to unsettle the waters, but the world around us is pushing on us and they would like us to fit. Often we think well, if we’re going to be good testimonies to the world, we have to be accepted by the world. No, we’re outsiders bringing to them a message. We were once insiders in this world, so we know what it’s like. Remember Paul in Titus chapter 3? Remind them that they were once like them. But we’re not to be like them anymore. We approach them with understanding, so it’s not with a condemnation that we give the idea we are superior. Although, no matter how we do it, there’s probably going to be a twisting of it. We don’t think we are better than they, that we were more worthy of God’s salvation than they are. That’s the beautiful thing. None of us were worthy. As we noted this morning, God offers it to all.

We’re concerned for our nation. Verse 34 of Proverbs 14. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” The more a nation becomes more open, more blatant, and more defiant in its encouraging and practicing of sin, it’s a disgrace to that nation. It’s shameful. We pride ourselves and show our openness as a country and a nation and we want to take care of people, whatever their views. We’re well-aware that’s not true across the board. Primarily concerned to promote those things… What’s at bottom line is most offensive to God.

Come over to Proverbs 29. This relates to some verses we looked at in other places. Proverbs 29, look at verse 18. “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.” Sometimes that verse is misquoted as a vision, and they use it in leadership conferences, that you have to have a vision to be able to lead people and have an idea how they should proceed to get where they’re going. He’s talking about here, and you have it in the margin of your Bible, revelation from God. The parallelism in that is God’s law, which they had as God’s word. It is God’s word. They didn’t have the New Testament and so on, but Israel lived under the authority of God’s word. It’s given in the Mosaic Law. Where there is no revelation from God, people are unrestrained, and that’s what we bring to this world. You can see as our country goes through what it is, without any foundation except what people themselves think, make up, or feel like, we move more and more into chaos. Uncertainty even to the ridiculous, as we talked about earlier. The people are unrestrained. There’s no God. In other words, it’s just your opinion and my opinion. I always think my opinion is better than your opinion, so then mine becomes right. I was reading in the news last night, it’s on there with the destruction going on in the city, some are saying, oh, destroying property? That’s not wrong. There’s no bloodshed, so it’s alright to destroy somebody else’s property. We ask if these are really intelligent people saying it? Where there is no revelation from God, how do you know a man is different than a woman? How do you know what the purpose of the creation is? You make it up as you go, and the deterioration goes on. So those passages remind us of the importance of our being faithful to the word. Once they reject the word, what kind of wisdom do they have? That’s what God says. They can be very intelligent with the wisdom to apply to life and to live life out wisely, but we shouldn’t be shocked. We should be grateful to God that by His grace, we were saved and understand it. People think, you’re arrogant; you think you’re right. I’ve noticed it was a church that recently, in fact, I just saw this afternoon, not in our area, but received some destruction because it preached against homosexuality as a sin. It’s offensive. Another area as well that they were involved in.

I want you to come to Genesis 19. Early in the Scripture, the first book of the Bible, we have the issue that we’re all familiar with—Sodom and Gomorrah—and the sin of the people of that city. You had righteous Lot living there. The New Testament testifies he was a righteous man but made poor choices and ended up with a family that had been influenced by the corruption of the city. God in His grace spares the righteous, but it’s a sad commentary. In Genesis 19, we have two angels coming to Sodom and Gomorrah and what we’re reminded of in this section, a number of things, but what is clear and it is true in Scripture, we talked about it… Remember with Abraham and they couldn’t go into the land of Canaan for 400 years because the sin of the Canaanites was not yet ripe for judgement? That’s what’s going on in the world, and God’s plan goes on and individual nations and so on; they come and then God’s judgement comes upon them. It happened to Israel. The Assyrians came and then the Babylonians, and then the nation as a nation continued and continues to live under the judgement of God. Sodom and Gomorrah have ripened for God’s final earthy judgement for them. There is a future judgement, obviously, but He’s going to destroy those cities and the cities connected with them. Two angels show up, as was customary. They went to the center of the city and where the businesses transacted, the gate as you have in verse 1. “Lot was sitting in the gate.” He’d become a prominent person. That’s where business was transacted. Then he invites these strangers who’d come in, and this was the hospitality at the time, come to my house for the night. We’ll provide for you. It was an important thing to do. You’re familiar with the account. It’s almost so ugly you hate to read it. After they ate and so on, before they could retire for the night, verse 4, “The men of the city,” and note this, “the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old.” Isn’t that a shocking statement, that this sin pervaded all ages? The corruption was complete, if you will. “All the people from every quarter.” It was like we’ve talked about in our city and how some parts of the city you don’t go to. Many years ago, when I was going to school in Center City, Philadelphia, I had to be in there nights. At night, there were places I didn’t go. It just wasn’t a place to go. If you saw anybody heading that way that didn’t look like they belonged there, you knew it was a dumb tourist. They didn’t know what they were doing. But the whole city here, they came from every quarter! This is ‘word’s out; new men.’ So, they come and they want those men to come out to have sexual relations with them. You see how sin had taken over everyone in the city and this was characteristic of the day. Once I invite them into my house, I’d give my life to protect them, so Lot even offers them his daughters to these men to do with as they would, in place of these men. But these men weren’t other men.

When sin takes over you, it knows no bounds. They haven’t forgotten Lot wasn’t born in Sodom, so even though he’s sitting in the gate, having some influence… Remember he came with some wealth after he and Abraham parted ways because their flocks and herds were so large that there was disagreement among the herdsmen and that. So, when somebody comes and brings their wealth, you know they have an in to begin with. But look, in verse 9, “But they said, ‘Stand aside.’” They’re telling Lot. “Furthermore, they said, ‘This one came in as an alien.’” He’s not native here. He’s an outsider. “And already he is acting like a judge.” They don’t like that. It’s part of what happens when we teach about sin. Well, you’re the judge. You think you have the right to judge other people. No, all we do is share the judgement that God has set forth. Then they threaten him—"’We will treat you worse than them.’” He stands out as different and that’s good. The New Testament said Lot, that righteous man, vexed his soul day after day living in that environment. From the Old Testament account, just from what’s there, you would doubt the righteousness of Lot. But the New Testament, under the inspiration of the Spirit, testifies to that.

So you see what goes when you confront the sin. Now you just enflame the opposition. You think you’re a judge. Well, we’ll take care of you if you don’t get out of the way, kind of approach. It’s very ugly, and the New Testament uses it. Peter uses it in 2 Peter 2. We looked at the book of Jude in verse 7. Jude uses it as an example of the depths of depravity of fallen man, which will necessitate and bring the judgement of God.

Come over to the book of Leviticus, the laws set down for God’s people Israel. Sometimes when you use these passages for a subject like this, we’ll say, well, that was part of the Law. I thought you said we’re not under the Law and those things don’t apply. A lot of those things don’t, but what we’re seeing is the consistency of God’s attitude toward this kind of sin and these kinds of sins, and they will be dealt with in the same way in the New Testament, as rebellious, defiant acts against God. So in Leviticus 18, come down to verse 22. “’You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.’” Verse 24, “Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.” You see the land of Canaan had come to the point in its rebellion, its sin, its open practice of defiance of God, that now it was time for it to be dealt with. Romans 2 says that those who continue in these sins are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath. The ultimate day of wrath, ultimately, is that final judgement. But God brings it as He was bringing it on the Canaanites. There was an immediate aspect to the judgment. Israel was to go in and what were they to do? Kill every man, woman, and child. God was done with Canaan. Israel wasn’t as obedient as they should have been, but you see the instructions. Well, four hundred years earlier God had told Abraham that Canaan the land would need to be judged, but He gives time. We talked about time for salvation. There’s no indication God sent any missionaries into Canaan, or that He sent Israel in to do missionary work. He sent Israel in to do His judgment work, but there is no excuse for their sin and rebellion against God. They are accountable for it. The Law here is clear. It’s an abomination, and the judgment that came on the Canaanites as well as the judgment that came on Sodom and Gomorrah are examples for us. The nations and peoples that persist and expand this kind of sinful rebellion and defiance of God will experience the consequences. What can we expect as a nation? We’ve had great blessing, great prosperity. It has not moved us to a great appreciation. We have songs connected with our nation that sing about God’s grace that was shed upon us. But any indication of consideration of God… We pride ourselves that we are now more open to these kinds of sinful practices and promote them and treat as homophobic and bad citizens if you would speak against it. See how we reach a point where what is there left? The time given wasn’t used for salvation. It was used to expand sinful practices. So Canaan is an example.

Come over to chapter 20, verse 13 and I’m just picking out this. The other things around them you can read. Verse 13 of chapter 20, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall be surely put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.” We have a movement now where nobody should be executed. We shouldn’t execute but the Old Testament is clear. God believes in capital punishment. What did He send Israel into the land of Canaan to do? Reform them? No. You execute every man, woman, and child, and that’s true of God’s judgments that come. It brings destruction. Where do we see His coming for the world in Revelation chapters 6 to 19? Devastating judgment from God that results in what? Billions of people dying and all of that is an indication, a reminder there is a coming final judgment at the Great White Throne and a sentencing to hell. God says they shall surely be put to death. Again, we are not as the church an earthly nation. We don’t try to carry out these. Israel was an earthly nation and as we saw in Romans 13, nations and the governments of nations have the power of capital punishment. We do not as individuals have the authority to execute vengeance, but governing powers act as God’s representative in executing. But, they end up encouraging practices. More and more we remove any punishment for the practices.

Over in Judges chapter 19… We come out of the books of the Law and you come to Joshua and Judges. Judges chapter 19 and what is interesting to me here…You see where we’ve moved when you come to Judges chapter 19 from Genesis where we had Sodom and Gomorrah that are names today—even are proverbial, if you will, for sin and the kind of sin that brings judgment. Those cities are a picture, a reminder of God’s judgment. Then Israel comes into the land of Canaan as God’s nation and they are to wipe out people who have been openly defying God with the practice of their sin. The sad thing when you come to Judges 19 is it’s an Israelite, a Jewish tribe that is practicing and defending this kind of sinful practice. How did we get here? Shouldn’t certain things be obvious to everyone? How could Israel, God’s people? Judges 19, come down to verse 22, Judges 19:22. Here’s a man, he went after his concubine, was bringing her back, and he stops. He didn’t want to go into a non-Israelite city for the night because you see those kind cities were not safe places. So, they came to the tribe of Benjamin, a city that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Verse 14 and 15 tell you this. They were going to lodge there. When the slave of this man who had retrieved his concubine suggested they stop at a non-Israelite city on their way back to their home, he said no, no we’ll wait and go to an Israelite city. So, they get to the tribe of Benjamin, they come to Gibeah. Verse 15, “They turned aside…they sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them in to spend the night.” They didn’t have hotels and things like this so what are you going to do? Well, you go there, you are obviously a visitor, a stranger to people there, but nobody invited them into their home. An old man comes, and he’s been out in the field working, verse 16, so he invites them to his home. And if I ask him where he is, verse 18, “He said to him, ‘We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, for I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But now I am going to my house, and no man will take me in to his house.” This is a sign of the deterioration because in those days it was required hospitality. Here you have a fellow Jew from one of the tribes and nobody invites him in. This old man says, well, and he tells the old man I have my own stuff. I brought provisions. I can take care of my animals so it’s not like I’ll be a burden. Verse 19, I have the food for the donkeys and my own bread and wine, and for those who are traveling with me. So, “there is no lack of anything,” verse 19. So, there’s no reason. This is all told why—a reminder that the deterioration just isn’t in one area. Here’s an Israelite city and area that would be be a minor inconvenience because in those days they were used to it, and often when you invited a stranger in you took upon yourself to feed them and take care of them. But here this man is saying , I’ve got everything for myself. Anybody who would come by could see what he has. The old man said, in verse 20, You come into my home. You note he says, “Let me take care of all your needs,” because it was almost offensive if you weren’t able to do that. Only “do not spend the night in the open square.” It’s not just that it won’t be comfortable, it’s not safe. “So he took him into his house,” takes care of his animals and provides for them. “While they were celebrating,” verse 22, “the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door, spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, ‘Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him.’” Sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah. We didn’t go through all the account because it’s so familiar. It’s the same scenario yet we are in a tribe of Israel, a tribe of Benjamin, an Israelite city in that tribe. And he makes the same offer that Lot did. Verse 24, “Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine.” Do to them what you would.

Something we can hardly even identify with him to see the protection, but these men aren’t interested in anything natural. We’ve gone beyond that. That’s what sin does. It’s like a drug. A little bit to start is okay but now I need more and something different. The natural no longer is appealing; it’s only the unnatural. Why are people drawn to sin? There’s just something about doing the wrong thing. We know that because we are born in sin and conceived in sin, from our birth we go astray. The longer we go astray, the more corrupted and corruptible we are. “But the men would not listen to him.” So the man takes his concubine… He had come because she had been unfaithful, so he was bringing her back, as she’s his rightful possession. He pushes her out the door and closes the door. So, the men do turn their lustful desires on her. Most of you are familiar with the account. In the morning he gets ready to leave, goes out, and the woman had come when the men were done with her and fell down at the doorway, dead. Verse 27, “When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house.” “He said to her, ‘Get up and let us go.’” He’s rather callous, but she’s dead. So he puts her on his donkey, takes her home, and you’re aware, cuts her into twelve pieces, sends a piece of her body to all the twelve tribes and the other tribes gather together. To summarize it, they want the guilty men of that tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin won’t give them up! In other words, we are going to protect them, and they do. They go to war. They have a lot of opponents. Isn’t it amazing what sin does to you? The tribe of Benjamin almost gets totally wiped out of men because they go to battle and the one against the eleven can’t win, ten here, can’t win. So, there are just a relatively few men of Benjamin who survive. What are we to think of this? It’s not that there were these kind of sinful people in this particular city of Gibeah in the tribe of Benjamin, but the tribe will go and give their lives to defend these men who are guilty of that crime. I want to think, why did God record these things? So we could see ugly stories? No. It is a reminder of what sin is like and the consequences of sin and the judgment comes.

Come to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. That was just a little bit of the Old Testament. We could have looked at other things, but that’s enough to give you the idea. We come to the Church Age and the world hasn’t changed. Now, thankfully, there is what we call the common grace of God. It’s a grace that restrains and refrains sin; holds it back. Otherwise, the world would be so overrun it would be unlivable, like we came to in the days of Noah when God wiped it out with the Flood. There is a restraining influence going on. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 8, Paul is writing about the Law. “We know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers.” We see that in the news. “For murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else that is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” We are not under the Mosaic Law, but we don’t want to miss the lessons that are taught in the Mosaic Law. Sin is still sin, and he gives examples of sin here and why you need the word of God as a standard that restrains sin. That’s what it was to do in Israel. The more Israel neglected God’s word, it got so neglected that when they were remodeling the temple, they didn’t even have a copy of God’s Law until it was discovered in a remodeling project. How did they get to that point? Less and less, unless it’s important. Less and less, it is used. Less and less, it becomes a focal point of worship. So less and less.

I remember some dear friends saved back in the seventies, George and Linda Stroh, and they shared their testimony. The first time he came to Indian Hills in the seventies, he said to his wife, look everybody here carries a hymn book! It never dawned on him that they carried a Bible. He assumed they must bring their own hymn books. So what has happened to the church?

When our family attended a denominational church that was associated with John Wesley, we didn’t have to take our Bibles because it wasn’t used. Sometimes the pastor could refer to it or quote something, but you didn’t have to have a Bible with you. How does it get to there? Well, little by little churches give Bible lectures instead of Bible studies. Then we just use verses of the Bible to support our talks as we tell people how to do better in their jobs, how to do better with their families, and how to do this or that. Pretty soon, it’s just the formality of going through certain actions and having talks that people like to hear. How are you going to know what God’s standards are? What are we filling our hearts and minds with if it’s not with the word of God?

Come back to 1 Corinthians. We’re going backwards here from the back toward the front. These are letters to churches. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and we’re going to verse 9. Look at what he has to say to the Corinthians in verse 9, “Or do you not know?” We’ve seen that a number of times when we’ve studied the Scriptures together. Go down to verse 15 while you are in chapter 6 and just note how verse 15 begins, “Do you not know?” Look at verse 16, “Or do you not know?” Verse 19, “Or do you not know?” What was Paul challenging? It’s like Jesus said to the Jewish leaders of His day, “Have you never read the Old Testament,” in Matthew 19, “In the beginning God made them male and female.” What’s the problem? They had read it, but it wasn’t part of their life anymore. You read it and you close it up and you go and do your own thing. Here he has to write to the church at Corinth and we just looked at this small sample. Back up in verse 3, “Do you not know?” Look back at verse 2 in chapter 6, “Do you not know?”

It’s like you tell your children when they do something foolish, stupid, or wrong. Don’t you know any better? That’s not a question you’re expecting an answer to. There’s no excuse for them not knowing. What are you doing? What is wrong? You’re living like you don’t know. If you had said, oh yeah I know that, but it’s not making any difference in your life, you’re not doing what it says. There’s the problem. You’re living like you don’t know.

That’s where Israel came to. That’s why Jesus confronts the Jewish leaders. Paul knew the Old Testament Scriptures, but he wasn’t a believer until Christ took a hold of him on the Damascus road. What are you doing? You are a Pharisee. You grew up learning the Scriptures but pretty soon they’re not relevant in your lives. That’s the danger of not obeying the word of God. Pretty soon, it’s just an intellectual knowledge. Yeah, I know that. We memorize Bible verses, but when it comes to the carrying out of the word, this was the Corinthians’ problem. So Paul has to keep saying, don’t you know, don’t you know? What did he have to tell them in chapter 3? I can’t write to you as mature people, as godly people. I have to feed you like you’re that little baby. You can’t handle the milk of the word. What have you been doing?

I remember early in my time in Lincoln I was speaking at a meeting of evangelical churches. I just used a passage of Scripture from what I had been doing at church and one of the men who was a leader in an evangelical church came up to me and says, do you always give your people that much meat? Well, they come to eat! What do you expect? He was saying it like, I can’t believe you study the word; go into the word like that. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? What are churches doing? We are the pillar and support of the truth. Do you not know? We are here for verse 9, but you got my mini sermon with it. “Do you not know,” this is serious, “that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” When Christ comes and sets up His kingdom, the unrighteous won’t go into that kingdom. You have to be born again, remember Jesus told Nicodemus, or you will never see the kingdom. “Do not be deceived.” No, you see this is what we were talking about earlier today. We begin to get shaped by the world then our thinking comes from our emotions. So, our emotions lead us and we begin to act on how we feel not thinking biblically. One of the reasons we go through the word of God carefully and in detail is so we learn to think biblically so then it is applied as it should. “Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.” Evidently, what had happened to the Corinthian church was over time the thinking of the world had come in and sin was no longer that serious. That’s why they’ve got all kinds of problems. They are fighting with each other. There are divisions. All that is back early in the letter. That’s chapter 3; I couldn’t speak to you on the more serious doctrines of the word because you’re not ready to handle it. You’re like that little baby that has to have the easily digested things that are broken down for them. You don’t give them something solid they can’t handle. He’s saying that’s what the Corinthians church is like. The problem is that it’s one thing when you’ve got that little baby. It’s another thing when you’ve got this twenty-year-old. Something’s wrong.

“Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” You know, if the church doesn’t believe that, and if we’re honest, some of us don’t believe it… Well, I know they’re saved. They just are not living. Well, you know what God says? If you’re not living it, you don’t belong to Me. Oh no, I know they trusted Christ. How do you know? We’ll talk about this a little bit in our discussion a little later. How do you know? Well they gave me their testimony. Oh, really? Well what’s their testimony? Well when I was in third grade I prayed a prayer with my parents or my Sunday School teacher and I trusted Christ. Yeah, and how’s your life been? Well, you know, I’m not living for the Lord and I’m involved in maybe some of these sins, but I’m a Christian. I just maybe am not living like I should. Who says you can call yourself a Christian and not live like you should? You don’t get that out of the word of God. Well, we’re too nice to be too direct. I’m not saying a Christian can’t sin. We have examples of that. David leaps out to us, but David wasn’t parked there. There’s a period of his life there but you can’t live there and call yourself a Christian. Oh, you’re making works part of salvation. Yes!

No one is saved whose life is not lived for the Lord. Now, a believer can get off track, and that’s why believers go and confront them. Matthew 18, as we have looked at, to bring them back. They can be wandering sheep, but the people that live out there aren’t wandering sheep. They are people that don’t belong. They belong out there; they are comfortable out there. They like it out there. They like being what they are. Then we have the mixture, and this was the Corinthian church. They still want to be viewed as Christians. I know that’s true. In fifty years of ministry in this church and a few years before I came here, I have sat and talked to people and had these discussions. You are sitting here telling me you know you’re a Christian. Just what in your life, outside of the fact you have a testimony at this point fifteen years ago you trusted Christ, what is there in your life that would make me think you are a believer? By your own testimony you live in rebellion against God. You’re doing the kind of things talked about here, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers; and then the other lists include other things. It is to tell the church, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Now, well, it’s if God credits His righteousness to me, yes; and when He does that it’s in the conjunction of washing you and setting you free and now you live differently. You see it encompassed here. So, can you be a Christian and practice these things? No. Can you commit these sins? Yes. Be very careful. But if you find yourself living that life, people will tell you, this is what Gil will tell you if you go see him, and other believers in the church, this is what they will tell you. That’s what that church is like. They’ll tell you that you have to trust Christ and when you trust Christ you have stop the sin. Yes. That’s why I couldn’t make a living in counseling. I’d have to charge several thousand dollars a session because it’s not that complicated. Here’s what the Bible says. Here’s what you must do and when you place your faith in Jesus Christ it means you let go of everything and submit yourself to Him. Let’s negotiate, God. I want to be forgiven my sins—be sure I’m not going to hell. I’m not willing to give up this and this, but I will give up this and this. It’s like how our government is supposed to work. Well, you negotiate. God doesn’t negotiate. He tells you. That’s why He says “Let’s reason together,” let me tell you what I will do for You. Lord I am willing to let go of everything, place my faith in You, and call You my Lord and Savior. Why would you call Me Lord if you don’t do what I tell you?

Alright, you see what’s included here as the issues. I want to be honest. Homosexuals are not going to heaven. Adulterers are not going to heaven. Thieves are not going to heaven. The covetous aren’t going to heaven. Drunkards aren’t going to heaven. We call going to heaven, and ultimately, the eternal form of the kingdom will be heaven, so if you’re not going into the kingdom you are not going to be saved. That’s what Jesus said, “Unless you are born again,” you’ll never see the kingdom. And now the Spirit of God directs Paul to write if you practice these things you are not going to be part of the kingdom. Is he saying anything different than Jesus said, “You must be born again”? Born again people don’t do these things. It doesn’t mean you can’t commit acts of sin—we do, but when this is the pattern of your life…come back to Romans chapter 1.

We are studying Romans on Sunday night as our normal study, but we don’t want to forget where we start. Romans 1. Paul says in verse 16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” Romans 1:16, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” That’s what we need. God’s power. We are not telling people to clean up their lives. God doesn’t tell people to clean up their lives. He says I’m going to clean you up so that now you can lead a clean life because it’s the heart that’s the problem. It’s the source of the sin. Jesus said in Mark 7, “It’s out of the heart” all these sinful things come from because as Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17, “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.” Cleaning up the outside of the cup doesn’t do anything. Jesus said the religious people of His day who wouldn’t think of doing some of these things were just whitewashed tombs, on the inside filled with dead men’s bones. In the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” “The wrath of God,” in verse 18. You can have the righteousness of God or you get the wrath of God. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” What do they do? They “suppress the truth.” In their hearts they know. How come we’ve come through millenniums of time and all civilizations of all kind have known the difference between a man and a woman, a male and a female, boy and a girl, but now we don’t? We suppress the truth. Even the most obvious truth we are unwilling to acknowledge anymore. That’s why we come sliding down that slope, we crash at the bottom, and it’s time for God’s judgment. Where do you go? Well, the next step is we have to wipe out everybody who disagrees with us, who would imply this is wrong, that this is sin. There is a holy God who will judge us. We can’t have that.

So he goes on and note, “They are without excuse.” The end of verse 20, “They knew God, but they didn’t honor Him as God.” It’s a progressive down slope. Our country at one time, “Time” magazine, thirty, thirty-five years ago, I forget now. What had the cover story, “The Year of the Evangelical” and the truth of the gospel was more broadly disseminated. We’ve had that through our country going back to its founding. Truth was there. I’m not saying the founders weren’t true believers, but the word of God was disseminated and encouraged, and men rejected it. “They didn’t honor God,” verse 21, “or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Verse 25, they worship the creation not the Creator. In verse 24, “So God gave them over.” This is the serious thing about rejecting God, and persisting in the rejection. I alluded to this when we were in Isaiah. It’s a time of salvation, Paul is saying. Today is the day. If you continue to tell God no and continue in the rebellion, there comes a time when He gives you over to the sin. He gives you over to the rebellion. Now I don’t know that. I’ve led people to the Lord in their nineties and they had a life of rebellion. So, I’m not the judge of that and how God works. His purposes are His, but it is a dangerous thing to keep telling God “no, I won’t” because you may say that for the last time and then what? What is left? Judgment. Well, I thought I would do it tomorrow. Well, God didn’t say I’d let you do it tomorrow. I told you today is the day of salvation. So “God gave them over” and what do they do? “They,” verse 25, “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” What does that mean? Where do you get your truth from? We come to the point where everybody makes their own truth because they see themselves as their own god. There’s no acknowledging the true and living God who is Truth. And what is the manifestation of that? “God gave them over.” You want to live in rebellion against Me, degrading yourself? Verse 26, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” Women with women, men with men, and there’s a penalty for that. They don’t want to acknowledge God any longer.

Verse 28, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” They are filled with all unrighteousness, and look at the list. We pick out things, well some of these aren’t so bad. You know, murder, that’s a bad one. Strife, well, that’s just part of life. Deceit, gossips, the evangelical church never has gossip. Aren’t you glad of that? We wouldn’t tolerate that sin. I have a Baptist background, and even the Baptists joke about conflict, battles, and divisions. Slanderers, right next after slanderers, haters of God. Well, I don’t know about slandering somebody… Is that on the same level as hating God? That’s why God lumps these things together. “Insolent, arrogant, boastful…disobedient to parents…untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” We pass laws to support them. What does that say? You are just as guilty as the person doing it. We have people that sit there and say I wouldn’t do that, but I defend their right to do it. What do you mean their right to do it? The right to defy God? I’m not saying Christianity ought to be established as the religion of the country, but I have to then be the spokesman. Your sin will lead you to an eternal hell. It doesn’t matter if the Supreme Court passes a law that men can marry men. We have to recognize that. You’ve put yourself over God. The people would choose to obey you? The one you obey is the one you worship. That’s why the people who refuse to obey God, what do they do? Who are they worshipping? The God that they won’t obey?

The multi-volume “Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,” that’s where you go when you want the last word on Greek words. It’s not totally reliable but it is the most exhaustive. Under Lord, Kurios, it says that the reason why any concept of God has to include the requirement of submitting to Him, I’m paraphrasing their extensive discussion, you call Him Lord but you won’t do what He says. That’s what Jesus said, “Why would you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” Is God Lord of all? Then what right do I have to rebel against Him in any area? What does he say here? It’s insolence and it’s arrogance, but this is how it begins to infiltrate in the church. Well, we don’t see these things as, I just think in all these what we call vice lists in the New Testament, God just mixes them up. He doesn’t put, well this is level one, this is level two, this is level three, this is level four, so we have the baddies up here. You know why? Any sin is a manifestation of what? A rejection of God’s authority in my life. That’s why it’s so serious. I’m telling God no, just like that little two-year-old that will stand there and say no. Over what? It doesn’t matter! Whatever the issue, he is defying you as the authority in his life as the parent. So, in that sense, little sins and big sins, I’m not saying you might as well go out and murder someone because you’ve lied about something else. Obviously not. But all sin is of the same character; it is a rebellious act against God. That’s what makes it so serious and when we don’t think its serious to rebel against God, then our foundation is eroding and the church is deteriorating and that’s where it begins with me. Where am I? Am I comfortable with things in my life that I know God wouldn’t be? I remember one dear man who is home with the Lord now. He came in to ask me, do you think God wants me to do… And he mentioned what. We’re going to get to this in Romans 14, but I said, let me ask you a question. Do you think God wants you to do what you are doing? Well, now I don’t think God wants me to do it. Well, then it really doesn’t matter what I think does it? Why would you care about my opinion when you have already decided you are doing what you know God doesn’t want you to do? If you don’t think God wants you to do it, you better get out of my office and do whatever it takes to stop doing it. Right? And he did.

Here I look through these sins and I think well, I’ve said some things about other people I shouldn’t say. I’ve done this. I’ve done this, but I haven’t done any of the big ones. No, we all stumble in many ways. James says that. But I never want to be comfortable with my stumbling because you know what that does? I become comfortable with a stumbled life. I want to be sensitive. When I do something that I know is a sin and rebellious, I want that to bother me. I don’t want to go to bed and be comfortable with that. I don’t want to just get on. I want to know I’m not going to do it. Why did I do that and I’m not going to do it again. I’m not going to sit in a puddle and think oh my, I’ve sinned and what am I going to do? I’m going to acknowledge it was sin and to the best of my ability, I’m not going to make it a practice of my life.

Alright, so that’s where these sins are. More and more of what the Bible calls sin is what the world calls acceptable behavior that we ought to defend. We’re defending sin with the laws that are passed and the actions that are taken. We can’t go there. Sin is sin. So this is where we will come into conflict with the government. I’m not saying everybody ought to and has to obey what we believe in the Bible because they are not believers, but I cannot submit myself to their authority when it is contrary to the Bible. But, it is hypocrisy for me to say, oh no I can’t submit to you with that; and as they examine my life, oh yeah, but you’re comfortable to rebel in doing these other things that God says you shouldn’t do. So I don’t want to be that kind of hypocrite when that then denies what I say is true. I want to live truth, not just talk it.

Let’s pray together and then I want to talk about a related area. Thank you, Lord, for Your grace, Your word, and Lord, Your work of salvation is finished in us but not complete and in these bodies, in this world. Lord, if we are not careful, we do stumble. Lord, we want to grow and mature. We don’t want to stumble and stumble and stumble and stumble and our life is just a collection of stumbles. Lord, we want to grow and mature and learn and become more and more like You—become conformed to You—because we are partakers of Your nature and Your character. Bless us as we continue to discuss. In Jesus’ name, amen.

I just want to apply and connect this to some emails and concerns expressed. You know, things go on below the surface. I was asked in an email I received just this week if I would express this in a question and answer. But, it has come up before where you have situations in a home where one of the people in the home is not living a godly life, but they are accepted in the church as godly people. And it was what do I do? I’ve talked to my spouse, and I will leave it at that. But they continue to persist in that behavior and that conduct. My understanding and what it comes to is, if that is the persistent behavior, you probably begin to look at them as an unbeliever. We don’t have time to go to the verses that I was going to take you to but 1 John chapter 3, you read that “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.” Those who practice sin are of the devil. Those who practice righteousness belong to God. We are not to be deceived by these things. So, a person can put on a good front and talk a good talk, but they reveal what they are like when they are not here. I had a professor, I’ve shared with you before, way back in Bible college days, and it was a class of men. He says men, “What you are when you are alone is what you are, not what you are when you come to this class.” That was a thing I never forgot. What you are in your home is what you are. How you treat your spouse is what you are. You don’t cover that up. Well, I have people in the church that think I’m a godly person. Yeah, you are good at fooling people.

It amazes me and it makes me even more sure, or maybe I should say more doubtful, of the genuineness of their salvation when you think you can fool God. You’re more concerned about fooling other people than you are fooling God. So, for people in this situation, James says, “Faith without works is dead.” You are not saved by your works, but a supposed faith that does not result in a changed life is not saving faith. So if you are married to a person and this is their life and their lifestyle, but you may not want to bring it out before the church, that’s the thing you have to decide. 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 1 to 7, there addresses wives who may be living with an unbelieving spouse. You don’t nag them to death. You be godly as much as you can, trusting that maybe God will use your testimony in his life for his salvation. Paul uses the same kind of argument in 1 Corinthians 7 where a believer is married to an unbeliever and says if they are willing to live with you, and this doesn’t mean you have to live with them. If they don’t want to live with you as a believer let them go. You are not bound to that if they make the choice. But don’t give up. Don’t be looking for a way to leave. Concentrate on being godly and maybe God will use you.

So that’s what I would say. If it’s the kind of sin, if they were coming to be considered for a position of teaching, a position of responsibility, and so on, elder, deacon, or another area, you probably would have to come and talk to an elder or a deacon about their conduct and it would come to the elders. You don’t want to cover for them but neither do you want to be the one telling everybody you come in contact with what a bad person your spouse is because that’s not a biblical solution. God doesn’t say that’s the answer. Well, I want everybody to know bad he is, or how bad she is. Well, why? Well, so people know how godly I am and living with that bad person. Well then, I’m not a very godly person. God, give me the grace. What is the other person going to do about it? That doesn’t mean you can’t talk to a godly person if you need counsel but be careful. Sometimes it just becomes an excuse to let other people know for your good. We do seek biblical advice and we should go to godly people to seek it, but what are we looking for? Sometimes I ask people, what do you want me to do? What do you plan to do here? Why are you here to tell me this? Do you want me to talk to them? I’m willing to do that. Well, I don’t know that I want you to do that. Do you want to take somebody with you? Well, no, not right now. Are you thinking of divorcing them? Oh no. So I have to decide why am I talking to you about this if it’s not going to go anywhere. Sometimes, as the song says, tell it to the Lord in prayer. Bring it to the Lord in prayer because what’s this person going to do? I unload on them and now they’ve got all these thoughts about how bad my spouse is, but what are they supposed to do with it? Pass it on to someone else?

And now we move into the gossip line. So somehow we have to decide first if I’m a godly person, because maybe, you’ll understand this right, Marilyn had to marry me, because God was going to use me to refine her. If she had married a perfect man, how was she going to grow? She wasn’t perfect, I was. No, sometimes we miss, Lord, this is the husband you gave me, or this is the wife. I want to be as godly a person as I can be in this situation. I want to be the husband to her that You would have me be because in this, I’m concerned about Your approval. I want to be the wife to him that You would want me to be, so that I have Your approval Lord. Now we work through that. That doesn’t mean it will solve it; in some, it can’t be worked out. But I would say, if that’s the practice of your spouse to live an ungodly life, goes out, drinks and does things that a godly person wouldn’t do, you’re probably living with an ungodly person. And he’s probably got the people in the church, or she’s got the people in the church fooled. But God’s not fooled. And again, it’s not wrong to talk to a godly person, to pray with them, and to have them encourage you, but be careful. Because I’ve told people, they want to tell me something, I say, I had a person, I want to tell you something but you can’t tell anyone else. I said, stop! What am I supposed to do with what you will tell me? Well, I just want you to know. I don’t need to know something that I can’t do anything with—something that I can’t do anything about. You want to put that in my mind so that now I’m going to roll this over and think about it? I don’t know what that person wanted to tell me. I had somebody bring me a whole folder of stuff they wanted me to know about. I said, look, I gave it back, there’s nothing I can do with it. The situation you’re telling me, that this involves, I nothing to do with, and I have no part to play. It’s not even part of our church. My ears are not a garbage can just for people to dump into and feel better. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things we do need to talk about. Like I say, you can have people pray for you. Sometimes the best thing to say is, you know, I’m trying to work on some things. You can’t change your spouse. Marilyn can’t change me; I can’t change her. The biggest impact she has on changing me in areas where I need to grow is being the woman that God wants her to be. And for me, that’s what I do.

That doesn’t guarantee that the other person is going to change, because nobody can change anyone else. But my concentration, so often it comes, people want to talk about what’s wrong with the person that they don’t think is functioning right. If that’s all you’ve got to talk about, how is God using this in your life? Count it all joy, my brethren when you fall into all kinds of trials because those trials refine you and perfect you. So, you know the first thing I want to think about is, how can I be more, in this situation, what God would want me to be? You know, I see it as that. That’s the first thing I say. Well, what would God want you to do? How can you be more? Because until I’ve dealt with that, oh, I get so concerned about what she’s not doing or what he’s not doing. I can’t go on. Why? In other words, God, if You don’t make my life better, I can’t do what You want me to do. God never puts me in a situation where I can’t do and be what He wants me to be. He never causes me to sin. James warns about that. We never want to get into a situation where we blame God, and that’s where coming up with excuses like, well, they do this, they do that, so that’s why I’m not what I ought to be. There’s never an excuse why I’m not what I ought to be, why I’m not doing... There’s never an excuse. Other people might think, oh yeah, that’s understandable that you didn’t do the right thing. I don’t think I’d do the right thing. What does God say? Did I put you in a situation where I didn’t give you the grace to enable you to handle it? Well, my friend didn’t think I could handle it. Where do we go? That’s why the first thing I go to is, Lord, refine me, perfect me. And when I’m being everything I can be that God wants me to be, then He’ll be using me in a greater way.

Alright, let’s have a word of prayer. Thank You, Lord, for Your word. Again Lord, thank You that it’s clear. Sometimes we wander; we’re prone to wander. We make excuses for ourselves. It’s so easy to see the faults and failures in others and to be blind to our own. The proverbial log that Your word warns us about. We see the speck in other people’s eyes and we’re blind to our own faults. Lord, we want to grow together and we want to help one another to grow. We want to support and encourage one another. Lord, often we don’t know the trials that those that we have contact with are going through, but we can be praying for one another. We can be encouraging one another even though we don’t know everything. And Lord, when we become aware of things, Lord may we be a help in a way that You can use, instruments that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit works through us in their lives. So, we commit ourselves to that end. The week before us and all the situations we’ll face, the pressures, the trials, and the blessings. May we honor You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.