Romans 1:6-17
And you also are among those who are called to belong to
Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith
is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in
preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in
my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may
be opened for me to come to you.
I long to see you so that I may
impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong--that is, that you and I
may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be
unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been
prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among
you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
I am obligated both
to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so
eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
I am not
ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the
gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by
faith.'"
Verse 6, "And you also are among those who are called to belong
to Jesus Christ." We don't know how the Roman Christian Church was started.
Paul reminds us in verse 6 that first, we didn't find God, God found us. We
should say, "When did the Lord find you?" The parables of Jesus Christ all
point to the Lord finding us. John 6:44 states that it is God who calls us to
Himself. He prefaces it in verse 36 by saying, 'You've seen Me, but you still
do not believe!' A lot of people saw Jesus feeding 5,000 people with a few
loaves and fishes--a miracle--and yet they still didn't believe. John 6:1-13.
"Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee
(that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him
because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus
went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover
Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him,
he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' He asked
this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to
do.
Philip answered him, 'Eight months wages would not buy enough bread
for each one to have a bite!' Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small
fish, but how far will they go among so many?'
Jesus said, 'Have the
people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat
down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and
distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same
with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples,
'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered
them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left
over by those who had eaten."
A lot of people say, "If I could only see
Jesus." Unbelief is not a matter of a lack of evidence or even seeing him in
person. They all saw Jesus and in the end they all rejected him. Jesus says the
Father has to bring you to him in verse 44 of this very same chapter. The Bible
teaches you that the Father has to draw you to Jesus Christ. If you feel the
slightest prompting or drawing to Christ I would run to him. John 6:36-37,44.
"But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the
Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive
away…No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up at the last day." So we see that it is
God the Father who draws us to Jesus. It is He who finds us, not the
other way around.
Verse 8, "First, I thank my God through Jesus
Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the
world." Paul was thankful to God for this church. Here was a church he
wasn't worried about as far as a bad lifestyle or falling into immorality, like
the Corinthian church, or falling prey to a false gospel like some of the other
churches under him (or like the Church of God at Galatia or
Ephesus).
Verses 9-10,13, "God, whom I serve with my whole heart in
preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in
my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may
be opened for me to come to you…I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so
until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had
among the other Gentiles." In verses 9-10 we get a sneak peek into Paul's
prayer life. Paul reveals: 1) He prays unceasingly. Paul was a man who prayed
all the time. He made it a habit to pray for whatever (or whoever) the Lord
brought before him, wherever he was--talking to God wherever he was. He had a
heart to pray to his best friend (God, Jesus). He prayed as God put things in
his mind, as God put people in his mind. God often does this with us. A few
months ago I really felt down, in the depths of this depression. I tried
to call a friend. No answer. I just couldn't shake this feeling of depression.
Then at 11 p.m. here was this gal we led to Christ over 11 years ago. "The Lord
put you on my heart to pray for you and call you," she said over the phone.
After an hour of encouraging conversation (where I could hardly get a word in
edgewise) the depression was lifted! God puts people on your hearts for you to
pray about. It isn't just coincidence!
2) We see his prayers are
requests, not demands. You can't demand and command God. This new craze among
certain Christian groups of name it and claim it is
totally unscriptural when you make a careful and complete study of the great
men and servants of God and their respective prayer lives. 3) Paul prays
according to the will of God. For years I thought prayer was to
get my will
done, but now I see prayer is to get God's will
done. God's will was outlined by Jesus in Matthew 6:9-13. "This
then is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name [the
lead in for prayer should have praise for God and his holy name], your kingdom
come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [this is a direct reference
to prayer for God's coming kingdom upon the return of Jesus Christ, as well as
for his kingdom to come into the lives of those he calls, converts and saves in
this age of man before his 2nd coming]. Give us this day our daily
bread [yes, you can pray for your physical needs]. Forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors [as we pray for forgiveness for our sins, we must also
forgive others who have sinned against us, or else God will not forgive us].
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one [we are to
pray for protection from the effects of Satan's evil world as well as from
Satan and his demon world.] This is an outline of God's will for us in our
prayer life, what we should pray for that is part of his will. Jesus couldn't
have made it any clearer. Demanding something of God which is not part of what
is covered in this prayer outline by Jesus will decidedly get you nowhere with
God--even if demanding anything from God could get you something. You can make
requests for yourselves. Paul prayed, "Please can I go to Rome, please,
please???" God said no, not now. You see, God wanted Paul to commit to writing
one of the clearest descriptions and presentations of the gospel of Christ ever
written down--not just for the Roman brethren of God's church, but for you and
me in this 20th century! So God had to say no to a servant's
request. In essence, God was saying to Paul, "No not right now, Paul. You will
eventually get to Rome. It will be your last stop, but you will get
there."
Many times we're not submitting to the will of God. When things
get tough many times we're not submitting to the will of God in our prayers.
You get mad and bitter--but you can't win, resisting the will of God in your
life. Understand God loves you incredibly and has your life in his hands.
Understand that God is in control of your life. Everything that happens to you
is filtered through God.
Verses 11-12, "I long to see you so that I
may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong--that is, that you and
I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." Paul started out by
saying he wanted to impart a spiritual blessing to them, but then said, 'Hey
wait a minute! It is I who am going to get the spiritual blessing by coming to
you and serving you!' Paul was in essence saying, 'I want to come and be with
you because I will get a blessing from you. Fellowshipping with other brethren
gives you a blessing. Paul knew that when you serve other people you get the
bigger blessing. You need to get involved in serving others for God. You miss
out on blessing when you don't serve others.
In verses 14-17 Paul
shares his testimony. He says three things: 1) I am under obligation. 2) I am
eager to preach the gospel, and 3) I am not ashamed of the gospel.
"I
am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I
am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the
gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"
1 & 2)Paul felt both obligated and eager to preach the gospel and Jesus
Christ., he couldn't keep quiet about this. Paul, like the leper Jesus healed,
couldn't keep quiet about Jesus and the gospel. In the Old Testament there is
this story about when Samaria was under a long siege and the people of the city
were starving so badly that they were now eating donkey heads. A group of
lepers said to themselves, "Enough is enough! We're going out to the enemy. If
we get run through it's better than living like this." They carefully
approached the enemy camp. All was quiet and unnaturally still. To their
amazement they found the camp deserted. The Lord had routed the enemy somehow,
but not before they had prepared tables loaded with cooked food of all kinds.
The lepers began stuffing themselves. Then one of them said, "This is not
right. We must tell the others in the city that we have food--lots of food."
They couldn't keep quiet about what they had found! And isn't it like that with
us? We've found the Bread of Life, Jesus! Paul had found this Bread of Life
also, and he was saying he felt like he was under obligation--like the
lepers--to tell the world that he had found the Bread of Life! He felt both
eager and obligated.
Why this power in the gospel? What is this power? Verse 17
says, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." The Christian message
doesn't just declare a righteous God, but it declares how you can be right
with God. Jesus was executed so we could be right with God by faith in
his sacrifice. God added up all our sins and the sins of everyone who ever
lived, lives and who will live and placed them on his Son. The execution that
he suffered paid the penalty. And if you'll reach out in faith and accept that
sacrifice, you'll be made right with God--you'll be set free from your guilt
and God's power will step in and transform your life and save you from the
power of sin. It is the power of God to change and transform our lives. This
power in recent times has transformed drug addicts into non-users, healed
people of killer diseases such as cancer, helped people walk away from any and
every chemical or alcohol addiction they may have which is destroying their
lives. And all of this is the transforming power of God working in us by his
Holy Spirit. The Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be
saved. This opens the door for the power of God to come into your life and
transform you from what you are now into his righteous children.
[This expository study was composed using notes taken from a sermon
given by pastor J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church of Phoenix,
Arizona.]
Romans 1:18-21
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, since what may have be known about God is plain to them, because
God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's
invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks
to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened."
Why do we need the righteousness
that is by faith? Our problem in the presentation of the gospel is that we
don't make people see that they are needy before we present the gospel.
The gospel need the preparation of the fact that we are lost and need Jesus
Christ. Many people--most of the world today--doesn't even know that they're
lost! The gospel is You're in trouble, sick in sin, and you need Jesus
Christ. The Bible tells you the truth about yourself and the truth isn't
always pretty. The Law of God in the Bible is a spiritual mirror. James, Jesus
half-brother said so in his letter. James 1:22-25. "Do not merely listen to the
word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what is says. Anyone who listens to the
word but does not what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks
like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,
and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he
will be blessed in what he does." So we see James, Jesus' brother, defining the
Law of God as a spiritual mirror. Just as a mirror can't cleanse us, neither
can the Law all by itself. The Law doesn't cleanse us of the dirt, it only
shows us we're sinners, in need of Jesus Christ and His righteousness, His
transforming power and healing. Sin is like the Aids virus. You can have it a
long time and not know you're sick. The Law, when used properly shows us where
the sin is in our lives. Then we're supposed to go to Jesus and get his help to
overcome the sin. We can't do it by ourselves in our own power. Our
righteousness is by faith, through the power of God working in us. Our
law-keeping is in the power of Jesus dwelling in us through the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. John Newton was a slave trader--a rotten person who did rotten
things. He wrote "Amazing Grace" after he was saved, but not before he realized
what a wretch he had been. He wrote, "Amazing grace, how sweet that sound that
saved a wretch like me." John saw what he was. John saw what the Bible says
about all of us--that we're sinners. Satan tells people the lie that we're not
sinners. It goes right back to Eden.
Paul in Romans 1 goes on here to
show the world is lost in sin. Verse 18, "The wrath of God is being revealed
from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the
truth by their wickedness..." Paul puts sin into two categories: 1)
ungodliness, and 2) unrighteousness.
The Great Awakening which swept across the United States and
back into Europe began with Jonathan Edwards reading in a monotone a sermon
titled "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." The people were frightened by
this knowledge. God's aim is to get rid of all evil. He is outraged at the
evil, the sin, which is wrecking and taking peoples lives. The Flood in Noah's
time was universal. It was God's wrath manifested against ungodliness and
unrighteousness. Look also at Sodom and Gomorrah. John 3:16. "For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only [begotten] Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life." 1 Corinthians 16:22. "If anyone
does not love the Lord--a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!" Ephesians 2:1-3. "As
for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to
live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom
of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of
us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful
nature [or our flesh] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the
rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
You don't break God's laws,
in reality, they break you. You're broken by them. Look at what God's planning
for sinner's. God is a righteous God. If we do not repent, here is what he's
planning. Psalm 7:11-17. "God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his
wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend
and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his
flaming arrows. He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth
to disillusionment. He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he
has made. The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on
his own head. I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and
will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High." As you can see, nobody
gets away with anything. It says in Romans 12 that we should be good to those
who treat us with evil, so that we make room for the wrath of God if they don't
repent. Don't be caught in the cycle of evil, but destroy evil with good. God
will repay evil for evil if repentance isn't forthcoming. God's wrath will
eventually come upon this world. It is going to come upon this world. The Bible
says the wrath of God will come when people at a time when people are calling
for the very rocks to fall on them to hide them from the Seven Last Plagues.
[To see what this wrath entails, go to http://thesource.khouse.org and order
the cassette series titled "Iron Mixed With Clay" and go to
http://calvarychapel.org and order the
cassette series titled "END TIMES, World Events & The Return of Jesus
Christ." The Biblical "tribulation" is none other than the coming World War
III, the deadliest war mankind will ever go through. Some Bible prophecies
indicate that only 1/10th of the world's population will live
through this deadly world war. If you are not presently a Christian,
born-again, it would behoove you to investigate this, and take a serious look
at where this present world and its' societies are headed.]
How do we
escape the wrath of God? Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, "...for they
themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son
from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the
coming wrath." Paul's talking to this brand-new baby church. Jesus who delivers
us from the wrath of God--let's continue the thought. 1 Thessalonians 5:9. "For
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ." God has provided a way for us to escape his wrath--a
relationship with Jesus Christ. How do you escape the wrath of God?--you go
where the fire's already burned. Jesus took the wrath of God, took the heat,
had it burned out on him. He took our place. If we are in Jesus, under grace,
we are where the wrath of God has already been. The fire of that wrath has
already gone out and we are safe. Our ultimate salvation is secure in Jesus. We
will be in that beautiful resurrection to immortality Paul spoke of in 1
Corinthians 15:49-54.
Romans 1:19, "...since what may be known about
God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them." The wrath of
God is for those who think they're getting away with something. Now you may
say, 'How can God get down on someone who hasn't even seen a Bible? Well, God
has put within the consciousness of every man and woman the fact that He
exists. We instinctively know that there is someone out there who is not of us,
not human, but beyond human. Secondly, the Bible says that 'it is the fool who
says there's no God. Someone else has said that there are no atheists in a
foxhole. Eddie Rickenbaucher said "There are no atheists on a life-raft." God
has given us his creation to prove his existence. Verse 20, "For since the
creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine
nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse." One of the biggest proofs of God's existence
is the creation. A close examination of God's creation, the physical world we
live in and the universe around us disproves evolutionary theory. [Be sure to
order Dr. Mark Eastman's book "Creation by Design". You can order online at:
http://www.thewordfortoday.org/product_nav.html
. CLICK ON "Other Material", and then on "Calvary Basics." You will find Dr.
Eastman's book listed here.]
Psalm 19:1-4 says, "The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour
forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or
language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out to the ends of
the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched
a tent for the sun..." Today even more than in the past we have no excuse, what
with the Hubble Orbital Telescope taking billions of spectacular photographs of
the heavens, to the very end of the known universe. The Hubble Space Telescope
has even seen to the edge of our known universe, some astronomers believe to
the very observable point of the Big Bang, the Beginning of time and space as
we know it. There is incredibly complex order out there--a universe of laws.
Pagans even knew of God's existence. 100 years before the birth of Christ this
pagan Roman, who didn't believe in the God of the Bible, wrote: "When we lift
our eyes to the heavens and consider the celestial bodies, what can be more
manifest, more obvious, than that there must be a supreme intelligence by whom
they are governed. For the life of me I cannot understand why a man who doubts
this should also not find it natural to question the sun exists. The evidence
is not more convincing for the sun's existence than for God's. If mankind were
not deeply and unalterably convinced that God is, our conception of him could
not have endured, steadfast, unwavering and ever growing in power as the
centuries roll on and the generations of man come and go. All other ideas
founded in the shifting sands time bears away before our eyes." Now that's a
pagan Roman! He's saying "Look at the sky!" "The vast majority of mankind,
though they never knew of Moses, nonetheless [to them] nature is the teacher,
the soul is the pupil" said another.
The reformer John Calvin commented
on this verse: "Man was created to be a spectator on this formed world. And
eyes were given him that he might, by looking on so beautiful a picture, be led
to the author Himself." No wonder one of the devil's great masterpiece's is the
theory of evolution.
The theory of evolution goes against everything
you can see and observe about nature. The Hubble Space Telescope shows there
was a beginning. Decay of radio-active elements shows there was a beginning of
space and time as we know it. Space, time and matter had a beginning. Hebrews
1:10 states, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands." Look at Acts 14:17, which says,
"Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving
you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of
food and fills your hearts with joy." The entire ecosystem as we know it did
not exist 65,000,000 years ago. It was totally different and unsuitable for
mankind. Then, as a famous geologist-paleontologist pointed out (Sprague de
Camp),"It was as if a curtain was wrung down on the old and all of a sudden,
the new appeared..." referring to the flora and fauna that is suitable for
mankind. This evolutionary paleontologist-geologist was amazed at the total
lack of connective evolutionary evidence between the two types of ecosystems
and the geologic suddenness of the demise of one and arise of the other
(understand that suddenness for a geologist and paleontologist is measured in
millions of years! But for any kind of evolution to work, if that is even
within the realm of possibility, it would require multiple billions of years,
not millions.). He didn't want to admit it, be the evidence pointed to the two
ecosystems having arisen through an act of creation!
We have been
taught in the past that man's concepts about God has evolved to where it is
now, in belief about one God. The idea was that man
evolved into monotheism. But do you know, something happened in 1930 that just
blew that theory apart! Independently working archeologists, socialiologists,
and anthropologists discovered in cultures all over the world that the actual
truth was, there societies all began with a belief in
one God. And instead of evolving into monotheism, they
de-volved into polytheism and idolatry, just like the Bible says. This is
proven very thoroughly in a book titled: "Eternity In Their Hearts" by Don
Richardson. He documented all these cultures and how they worshipped the "Good
Sky God." [This can be ordered online from http://www.amazon.com for under $10.00]
[This expository study was written based on sermon
notes taken from a sermon given by pastor J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community
Church, Phoenix, AZ.]
Romans 1:21-23
Romans 1:21-23, "For although they knew God, they neither
glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile
and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they
became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to
look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."
The problem
with humans beings isn't that we have to know God, the problem is that we
need to know God. The problem isn't about God revealing
himself, but about people rejecting God. Even though people knew God, Paul was
saying, they rejected God. What did God tell Jeremiah about the human heart
absent from the guidance of God's Holy Spirit? Jeremiah 17:9. "The heart is
deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
These things happen when you don't worship God. If you reject the truth of God,
don't expect to see any more in the future. The Bible teaches that man's
religious beliefs have de-volved into polytheism. Man now worships
himself and his self-image. The Egyptians and Romans worshipped eagles and
birds of prey, and four-footed creatures. The problems with India are
religious, not food. Cows and mice eat up their grain stores while people
starve, worshipping those same creatures, not daring to kill one of them. To
have a cow come marching into ones living room in India and relieve herself, is
considered to be an honor. The Egyptians worshipped the scarab beetle. This is
the beetle that eats cow manure. God says something about images in Exodus
20:4-6. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; I am the Lord your God, punishing the children
for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
me, but showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep
my commandments." People want to worship something, so they worship bleeding
statues, weeping statues... Isaiah 44:12-20, "The blacksmith takes a tool and
works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with
the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water
and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and make an outline with a
marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it
in the form of a man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.
He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the
trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. In is man's
fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and
bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and
bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his
meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says,
'Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.' From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he
bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, 'Save me; you are my
god.' They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over
so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one
stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, 'Half of it I
used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what if left? Shall I bow down to a block
of wood?' He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save
himself, or say, 'Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'"
People
never thought of Who gave the rain that watered the tree they cut down to make
their idols, much less of Who created trees in the first place. Let's look at
Deuteronomy 7:25-26. "The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do
not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or
you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not
bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for
destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction."
1 Corinthians 10:19-22, "Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is
anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God,
and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup
of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the
Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's
jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" Strong advice from the apostle Paul.
Unbeknownst to the owners, demons often accompany the possession of these
things, yes, totally unknown to the owner. Don't open yourself up to demons by
possessing idols, even thought you may view them as precious artifacts or
art. I'm not kidding, demons, unknown to the owner, have come into
households because they "belong" to the owned artifact or idol. They feel they
have a right to accompany the idol that represents them. God was telling them
that, when they went into the Promised Land, they would find a lot of idols.
Why did God says this? He tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:19-22, which we just
read. Because demons inspired the making and use of these idols. When you
worship these things, or bring these things into your home, you bring demons
in. The Navajo cachinas are idols fashioned after demonic manifestations the
Navajo's have really seen. Unicorns have demonic origins. Demons can actually
accompany the possession of these things, unknown to us. Don't open yourself up
to demons by possessing idols, even though you may view them as "art".
We pay a price to follow Christ. He paid the ultimate price, and he asks us to
forsake what's bad for us. Is that so high a price to pay?
Another form
of idolatry is putting something ahead of God. Satan can also stuff God out of
our lives by all the activities that tend to get crowded into our daily
existence. How much time do we give to God, and also Godly fellowship with
God's people? As it gets close to the end, Satan is going to try to crowd God
out of our lives more and more. We have to put Him back into our lives more and
more to offset this. You could say Deuteronomy 7 is old covenant stuff, but you
can turn to the book of Acts and see where they gathered up all this pagan
stuff they had, books of magic and had a huge bonfire with all this stuff. They
burned it all. It's New Testament also. Don't become fanatical, but listen to
God's Spirit. Satan the devil is not bothering you or me, I assure you. We're
not that important. He's a created being. He can only be in one place at a
time. As the saying goes, he's got bigger fish to fry. But if you've got this
junk in your house--if your worshipping images or venerating images--you've got
Saint Jude buried in the backyard, so you'll sell your house--give me a break!
Is anything more idolatrous than that? Guys, if you think this advice is crazy,
then maybe your foolish heart has been darkened.
"Professing to be
wise, they became fools and worshipped idols." Let's not do that. Let's clean
house. Just one more word, if you're husband isn't a Christian, and the cachina
collection is his, don't you dare go home and burn it! Use wisdom. Some of you
may be in the position where you can't do anything about the stuff there. When
we go to a Chinese restaurant and there are Chinese gods all around, we can't
burn them or destroy this artwork. Reading your fortune is fortune telling--eat
the cookie, yes, but don't read the fortune. Following Jesus is 100 percent or
nothing. Jesus says "If you're not with me, you're against me."
[This expository study was based on sermon notes taken from a sermon
given by pastor J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church, Phoenix,
AZ.]
Romans 1:24-32.
Romans 1:24-32, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful
desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies
with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped
and served the created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised.
Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women
exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also
abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due
penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge
of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of
doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless,
ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things
deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve
of those who practice them."
Sexual immorality is nothing new. Homosexuality is nothing new. Homosexuality
was rampant in the Roman Empire. It was written that Julius Caesar was every
woman's man, and every man's woman. The dean of a 1.1 million person Christian
denomination said that he doesn't believe that homosexuality is a sin. This
is a dean of a seminary! He just lost the nomination for president of that 1.1
million member denomination. He says "Homosexuality is by no stretch of the
imagination a Biblical theme. Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with homosexuality"
he said. "Paul criticized immorality, not homosexuals" said this theologian.
An Episcopal Bishop has written a book in which he says the apostle Paul was
a self-hating repressed homosexual. In his book "Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism"
Don Shelby Sponge, Bishop of the Newark, New Jersey Diocese contends that, "the
apostle Paul was a self-loathing and repressed gay male." According to this
AP article (in a newspaper being quoted by pastor Martin) Sponge also argued
that the Biblical accounts of miracles such as the virgin birth and the physical
resurrection of Jesus Christ never took place, they're not to be taken literally.
Even more recently in USA Today there was an article titled "Out Of The Church
Closet", talking homosexuality in the Christian Church, with such headings as
"Gay Clergy Fight For Their Rights To Minister Their Faith." A lesbian Presbertyrian
minister, who is a practicing lesbian pastor of a Rochester, New York Presbertyrian
Church is fighting the church courts and says she will go to the civil courts
to keep her position at the church because she feels she has a right to minister
even though she is a practicing lesbian in a lesbian relationship right now.
Bishop Sponge is also quoted in this same newspaper spread. He says, "We should
open our heart." He says he has ten openly gay priests serving in parishes serving
in his diocese and he also believes and says "That as long as the church refuses
to allow gays to come honestly into the church then I don't think the church
has the right to say anything to the gay community about sexual ethics." "I
think we should open our hearts to accept the gay community" he says, "and only
then can the dialogue begin." He continues, "The only thing I think the church
should require of gays and lesbians is that they live their life with integrity.
That they be in life giving and faithful relationships with their partners."
Recently in Pasadena, California, All Saints Church, an Episcopal congregation
of 3,000 performed a blessing ceremony for two men in a homosexual relationship.
It was basically a homosexual wedding service. I quote from the Moody Monthly,
"Such ceremonies have occurred previously in the United Church of Christ, the
Pro-Homosexual Metropolitan Community Churches and a few other liberal congregations.
But All Saints Church, the largest Episcopal congregation west of the Mississippi
is the most prominent church to sponsor one."
What does God think about homosexuality? Genesis 19:1-13. "The two angels arrived
at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When
he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
'My lords,' he said, 'please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash
your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.'
'No,' they answered. 'we will spend the night in the square.' But he insisted
so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal
for them, baking bread without yeast [this could have been during the Days of
Unleavened Bread], and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men
from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out
to us so that we can have sex with them.' Lot went outside to meet them and
shut the door behind him and said, 'No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them
out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to
these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.'
'Get out of the way,' they replied. And they said, 'This fellow came here as
an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them.'
They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the
door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and
old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
The two men said to Lot, 'Do you have anyone else here--sons-in-law, sons or
daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its
people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.'"
In Lot's opening statement to the two men he was basically saying "stay with
me till morning and then get out of town quick!" In the Middle East, when you
ate with someone, you were obliged to be a friend with that person for life
and you were his protector as long as he was under your roof. He would protect
you with his life. He would spare nothing to spare your life. These two men
who were really angels were his guests. The ethics of the day said, "You do
anything within your power to spare your guest harm." This is reflected in Jesus'
statement in Revelation when he says "Behold I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone will hear my voice and will open the door, I will come in and I will
eat with him and he with me." He's saying, "I'll be your friend forever--I'll
defend you with my life." He's already done that with the danger of our sin.
They said about Lot, "He's an alien, and now he's acting like a judge?!?" This
is the homosexual community's constant accusation. There's this society that
wants to abuse children [Namibia or something like that], and they're fighting
for their rights to abuse children! And if you raise a stand against them, they
say, "Oh, so you're our judge?!? You're so much better than us?" This complaint
they have is nothing new. They were so bent on sinning that when God smote them
with blindness they still didn't stop trying to find the door to Lot's house.
They wore themselves out trying to find the door. This is how inflamed they
were, how perverted they were. God judged them, Jude said, because these men
went after strange flesh. God made them an example of eternal fire [an eternal
fire being a fire that isn't quenched, but burns itself out when the fuel is
used up.]. They were punished for their sin. God lays down his laws for his
society in Leviticus 18:22-29. "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman;
that is detestable [Hebrew: audacious depravity]. Do not have sexual
relations with an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations
before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its
sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees
and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any
of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who
lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile
the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before
you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things--such persons must be
cut off from their people."
This takes care of the argument that when God talks about homosexuality, he
is talking about promiscuous homosexuality. God says, "I don't care if you are
promiscuous about it or not." He says in verse 22, "You shall not lie with a
male as one lies with a female, it is an audacious depravity." God goes on to
say that the people who do that should be cut off. In ancient Israel under God's
authority there was a death penalty for that.
Let's look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. "Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral
nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor
thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God." In Ephesians 5 the apostles Paul tells us "Do not participate
in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them, for it is
disgraceful to even speak of the things which are done by them in secret." 1
Timothy 1:9-10. "We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but
for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious;
for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and
perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is
contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which he entrusted to me." If you have a problem with this you have a problem
with God, not me. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin problem not a genetic
problem.
The top named sex researchers are saying the same thing. Masters and Johnson
said in 1979, "We're born man, woman and sexual beings. We learn our sexual
preferences and orientations." Masters and Johnson are the famous sex researchers
that everyone quotes when referring to sex problems--they're quoted all the
time. Then in 1984 William Masters said, "The genetic theory of homosexuality
has been generally discarded today, despite the interest in hormone mechanisms
in the origin of homosexuality. No serious scientist today suggests that a simple
cause-effect relationship applies."
I'm not gay bashing, because I believe with all my heart that God loves homosexuals.
I believe he hates the sin of homosexuality. And I believe that Jesus Christ
can set you free if you're struggling with homosexuality or lesbianism or any
perversion. God can set you free. It's a learned behavior, and through the power
of Christ you can unlearn that, and you can be given new desires, and the power
to say "No" to those old desires by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe
that can happen. And it has happened. Dr. Alfred Kinsey stated "I have myself
come to the conclusion that homosexuality is largely a matter of conditioning."
Dr. R. Kronimeyer, in the New York Tribune said, "With rare exceptions, homosexuality
is neither genetic nor the result of some glandular disturbance. Homosexuals
are made not born that way. From my 25 years experience as a clinical psychologist
I firmly believe that homosexuality is a learned response to early painful experiences
and that it can be unlearned." Kinsey was convinced that "The psychologists
were making matters worse by starting with the assumption that homosexuality
was an inherited abnormality which could not be cured simply because it was
inherent. Kinsey was confident that there was absolutely no evidence of inheritance."
Of course the Bible has said this for 2,000 years. The Bible isn't right because
Masters and Johnson agree with it. The Bible isn't right because Alfred Kinsey
has discovered the Bible is right. The Bible is right, and these guys, for once,
happen to hit it right on the mark.
What this means is that there is tremendous potential for men and women to be
set free from the sexual perversions and bondage's, because it isn't genetic.
If it's genetic, how can you change it, right? But it's not, and if you're having
these struggles right now, and maybe you've never done anything yet, I want
you to listen to me, God didn't make you gay. God didn't make anyone a homosexual
or a lesbian or a pervert of any kind. God has not made you that way. A lot
of people get their introduction into homosexual lifestyles by being molested,
by someone who was molested who was molested. It's a cycle, this pattern that
goes on and on. And if you've been hurt that way, Jesus Christ can heal you,
and you need to be healed, and he has great compassion for you. So don't get
this idea, even if you're involved in it, the Lord loves you, and wants to save
you and set you free.
We're not bashing anybody, that's not the spirit of the Word, but the Word is
saying, now if you're going to get militant about it, and demand your rights,
we have to say, 'Well look, the Bible says, "It's a sin." And it shouldn't be
a "right." It will destroy society. Why is it, those of you who know history
will attest to this, why is it that every civilization, just before it fell,
it's like the thing that pushed it over the edge was a rampant acceptance of
homosexuality? The Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, the French just before the
revolution occurred, there was this rampant acceptance of homosexuality. When
the family gets attacked like that, and the basic building block of the society
is the family, the family structure rots and the society is given over to these
perversions, then the land itself spews out the inhabitants just like God's
Word says [it did in ancient Canaan]. This last month somebody gave me a video
of a Gay Rights, Gay Pride Week parade, one held in Portland. I have never in
my entire life seen anything as sick and perverted and obscene as what was done
in public in this parade. This is what we want to pass tomorrow night. The city
[of Phoenix, Arizona] wants to pass Gay Rights legislation. Everyone should
see the video I saw, but no one should see it, if you know what I mean. It is
absolutely gross. And this is in broad daylight, stuff that like the Bible says,
is too gross to even talk about. And yet it needs to be exposed. It's scary.
[If you have a gay or lesbian friend, how would you share Jesus with them? This
question is answered in David T. Moore's cassette "What Do I Say To My Gay Friend?"
which can be ordered online at: http://www.mooreonlife.com
. Be sure and order a copy of this tape. True Christians, like Jesus, aren't
out to destroy and kill like the Pharisees wanted Jesus to do with that woman
caught in adultery. True Christians want to spare, forgive and see Jesus save
those who are in bondage to sin, and the gays are no exception. If you've been
gay bashing, look closely at your motives, because they're not Christ inspired.]
Well, it's sure easy to point the finger at homosexual immorality, but
what about heterosexual immorality?
Some people reason, "One's better than the other, I'll sin straight." Let's
look at 1 Corinthians 6:9 again and see who God picks on first. Who's the first
group mentioned?--Fornicators. What is fornication? It's just the Bible's word
for any kind of pre-marital sex. You've been living together for three years?
No you've been fornicating for three years. You love the girl? Well if you love
her that much why don't you marry her? Adultery is when you have sex with someone
who is not your married partner. Homosexuality is the last thing Paul talks
about. The first thing he talks about are promiscuous heterosexuals. The book
"The Day America Told The Truth" revealed that one in five Americans loses his
or her virginity before the age of 13. At least one third of married men and
women are having or have had an affair lasting, on the average, one year. And
saddest of all, the survey showed that religion plays no part in shaping more
than half of all Americans opinions on sexuality. His survey, funny thing, showed
that most Americans believe in God, and they believe in the Bible. But when
it comes to what they do with their sexuality, the Bible
is thrown out the door--who cares what God says? And we're paying the price.
A year ago U.S. News & World Report stated that teenage sexuality is way
up from what it had been, and American college students are the most sexually
promiscuous group in the country. Well, who's to blame for all this? I think,
first of all, parents are to blame. Many teens are simply taking their cue from
Mom and Dad. The All-American now has seven sex partners in his or her life.
Kids know what you're doing. It doesn't work anymore to be saying, "Don't do
as I do, do as I say." That never really worked, and it's not going to work
today. Parents can't continue to do that and have their kids unaffected--do
you understand? Parents are to blame. Our media is to blame--sexually explicit
movies, television, programs, sitcoms, late-night movies and very sexually oriented
commercials are to blame. Garbage in, garbage out. Lot got real comfortable
[living] in Sodom. The angels had to drag him out of the city before it was
destroyed. He was so numbed by what was going on.
Even our public schools are to blame for what's going on. If you're a public
school teacher, hats off to you. I am not talking about you, but I am talking
about sex education text books that are used in most American classrooms today,
that are going far beyond a simple biology lesson explaining the physiological
matters of reproduction and birth. Instead they try to teach sex and sex education
without any corresponding moral responsibility. And the results have been disastrous.
Since they started sex education in school teen pregnancies have soured--it
just follows. Look at when it started. When they started giving kids contraceptives,
what has happened? In a corresponding relation, teen sex and pregnancy have
also increased. Sex education textbooks encourage pre-marital sex as valuable
and good. I'm not making this up. I'm going to read, and I've
had to edit like crazy to be able to read this to you. One text designed for
elementary and High School students says, "Sex is like learning to play a game,"
and then it goes on, I didn't write it, "encourage the kids to practice so that
they can become very good at the game." These textbooks also encourage sexual
promiscuity and irresponsibility. Listen to what one textbook says, "Not so
long ago, boys believed that they were somehow obligated to marry a girl if
they had intercourse with her. That idea isn't nearly so prevalent now. One
relationship may end with intercourse and then the boy goes onto a different
kind or the same kind of a relationship with another girl. This is all part
of the process of growing up, of maturing." Sick! One very
popular textbook gives the advice to homosexual teens on how to pick up older
homosexual men. I couldn't even read it to you. Now, your kids are in public
school, Mom and Dad. When's the last time you checked out what they're being
taught??? When's the last time you went to a P.T.O. meeting or a P.T.A. meeting?
When's the last time you took their textbook and said, "Let me read this" and
you looked up the sections that you need to see? You have a responsibility to
do that. "Well, I'm paying them to do that." No, you're paying godless, amoral
people who write those textbooks to teach your children what you don't believe
in! That's what you're paying for. That's what your tax dollars are giving you.
Praise God, we've got some Christian teachers in there, but I tell you, they're
fighting a battle that is a losing battle, and they know it. Thank God for those
missionaries in the public schools. But they can't stem the tide.
Our heroes are to blame as well. Magic Johnson's dear friend, 1984 Olympic Woman's
Basketball team member Pamela McGee shared the following in a Los Angeles Times
article, "I guess it didn't surprise me that Magic had the disease, knowing
his flamboyant lifestyle. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Magic's closest
friends always knew him as a major player and womanizer. He had one-night stands
with what he'd call "freaks" all across America. The reason he probably made
it public is to warn the thousands of women he has slept with. So it didn't
surprise me that he had the insidious disease we call H.I.V." In Sports Illustrated
Magazine, Magic stated, "That from the time he first arrived in Los Angeles
he accommodated as many women sexually as he could." Oh, he's our hero. And
now he's the great A.I.D.S. spokesperson. A guy who by his own admission went
out with every freak that would come his direction. What kind of heroes do we
have? Wilt Chamberlain, recently made the startling claim that he had sex with
nearly twenty thousand women. Why not 500 thousand, Wilt? I don't know if he's
telling the truth or not.
Infamous Dallas Cowboy linebacker Hollywood Henderson admitted in his book "Out
of Control, Confessions of an NFL Casualty", he admitted that with the five
years he was with the Cowboys he had "affairs with over a thousand women, from
one night stands to three day romances, to four or five women a night at orgies."
What kind of heroes do we have? Pete Rose turns out to be a major league gambler,
and Sugar Ray Leonard was discovered to be punching his petite little wife.
What kind of heroes do we have? Men running for the highest office of the land
talk about their adulterous affairs, like the deceit and immorality that has
to accompany an affair will not have any effect on how they operate in public
office--and we should not let their affairs effect what we think of them and
their credibility. [For more on this subject CLICK ON: http://www.ChristianBooks.com/khouse
and order the cassette series "The Most Dangerous Gospel"] I have a problem
with that. I think that those who are in public places and public offices and
public leadership have a higher standard [to maintain] than anyone else in our
land. Oh but Christians are different, aren't they? I wish.
A number of years ago a survey of recently divorced Christians of a large church
appeared in Christianity Today. They weren't all recently divorced, some
of them were divorced for a long time. And its research showed among other things,
that Christians are involved in sexual immorality in numbers that you never
even thought of. Get this. Now before I share with you these statistics, I want
you to grab this. In the very beginning of the survey all of the people were
asked, "Are you Christians?" "Yes." Well, we know there's a difference between
Christians and born-again Christians, right? So the next question was:
"Are you a born-again Christian?" And all of them responding
to this survey said "Yes." "We are born-again Christians and we know what that
means." So when they were asked, "Is celibacy realistic for a formerly married
Christian?" Only 47 percent of the divorced men, and 24 percent of the women
reported that celibacy is realistic. Now I thought that it would be the guy
who would say, "Now forget this, man." It's the women. 29 percent of the men
and 28 percent of the women reported that they weren't sure that it was wrong.
Oh wait a minute. I don't know where they're going to Church, do you? Only 9
percent, listen, only 9 percent of the men and only 27 percent of the women
had been celibates since end of their marriages. That means that celibacy means
you don't have sexual relations with anybody. Only 9 percent of these born-again
Christian men and only 27 percent of the born-again Christian women had been
celibate since the end of their marriage. The rest of the group of born-again
Christians were sexually active, some having relations more than 50 times since
their divorces. One fourth of the men said that celibacy was unrealistic. Almost
half of the women said they could not practice celibacy. The survey asked them
an obvious question: "Well, don't you care about what the Bible says and with
what you're doing?" And you know what, they almost all of them said? 67 percent
of the men, 58 percent of the women said, "Yeah, we've got a conflict going
on." One person replied, "Sometimes I feel so despondent after I've been out
and engaging in immorality that I feel like I want to die, rather than live
in this torn apart feeling." Maybe some of you know how this person feels. Another
person said, "I have tremendous guilt when I am sexually immoral. My guilt prevents
my spiritual growth." And maybe some of us can relate to our spiritual growth
being stifled because of sexual immorality that we're engaging in. But I think
one of the most interesting results of this survey is to see how the Christians
who are sleeping around justify their sexual immorality. One person who'd slept
around 10 to 20 times said, "I've prayed about my sexual needs and God has answered
them and given me someone to relate with. I couldn't have planned it that way."
Give me a break. Don't any of you come to me, and tell me that God wants you
to have this married man--that God's brought him into your life. Don't tell
me that. Because God would never do anything to contradict his Word. And God
never makes exceptions for us. You're being deceived. That's sin. Another person
who had slept around 20 to 50 times simply stated, "I don't feel condemned by
God." Well, you know why? Because probably about the 20th time the
Holy Spirit stopped bugging you about it anymore. You know you can sin and sin
and sin and finally God says, "I'll give you what you want, you can have it,
but what you sow you're going to what?--REAP. And you'll stop being convicted
of sin. And if you're in an immoral relationship right now and you don't feel
guilty about it, YIKES!!! You had better hit the panic
button! Hit it! Because you're in danger! You might not even be a Christian
if you don't feel condemned by sexual immorality. What makes you feel you are
a Christian? Someone who had 10 to 20 episodes said, "My personal faith affirms
God's law for the whole man, not unreal antiquated rules." MAN! The
One who made us made this Book! You buy a new car and the manual comes with
it. You buy a VCR, state of the art, a manual comes with it. You buy a T.V.,
a manual come with it. And you don't throw it out and call it antiquated rules!
I mean, that's how to program things for success. And God's written the rulebook,
and He knows how life should be lived, and if you don't live this way you're
gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble.
And finally, a person involved in 50 plus episodes sleeping around stated, "Christ
wants us to live abundant lives. To me that includes sex." Whoa! Well I'm not
anti-sex and I don't believe God's anti-sex. Sex is great, in marriage. God
meant for sex to be placed in the protection of a marriage where you're with
one partner for the rest of your life. Not to see how many conquests you could
make. You know, any dog could do that. I mean, any dog can run around and make
conquests. But I like the definition of a good lover. It says, "A man who can
satisfy one woman all her life, and a woman who can satisfy one man all her
life." That's the definition of a good lover. There's all this pressure to prove
you're macho, you know. Macho, smacho, you're just a dog in heat, you know,
that's all you are. Well this has been a very interesting message, very uplifting.
I feel like apologizing and yet, I mean, it's God's Word.
Now what if the shoe has fit, what if the Holy Spirit has knocked you along
side of the head today? I just want to warn you. Listen. We are not talking
about something now that is not dangerous. We are now talking about a life and
death issue when we're talking about sexuality. We are not being told the whole
truth about A.I.D.S. The information I get from sources other than the Center
For Disease Control--it's telling me things that you're not hearing. In fact,
a little tiny piece in USA Today, about this tall, that nobody probably read,
was clipped and given to me. And it's an announcement from the C.D.C. stating,
"That we now know, and believe, that there are two to three times as many A.I.D.S.
cases as we have reported." So you take the current number, what, 200,000 and
multiply that times two or three. And then you multiply that probably times
10 [six million, and this sermon was given around 1995--the data is five years
old already. The infected figure could be as high as 20 to 30 million infected
A.I.D.S. cases!--one eighth of our population in the United States!!] Because
you can have the disease and be passing it along and not have the symptoms yet.
A.I.D.S. will kill you. And the sad thing is, A.I.D.S. won't just kill you,
it'll kill your family too. I mean, there are families now where the father
messed around, his wife got A.I.D.S. from him, the baby got A.I.D.S. because
she had it, and the entire family has been killed by this awful disease. You
see, it doesn't select the guilty party. It's gone beyond that now, O.K.? You're
endangering not only you but the ones you love. You're a fool to be fooling
around. God said, "I'm not going to be mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap." And I'm warning you, if ever--you better be serious about
what God says about morality, about sexuality and purity, you'd better be serious
today, because we're not living in the 70's, we're not living in the 60's, we're
living in the 90's and people are going to die, and this congregation if affected
already. And it will be more and more. And it's tragic. And it could have all
been avoided had we lived what we know. Dear precious flock, I love you, I don't
want to see you hurt. Listen to the Lord.
Now next week what I want to do is I want us to get together, and I want us
to talk about some of the pressures that you experience as a single, maybe a
divorced single, maybe a single single, a married person with strong sexual
temptations. We're going to talk about what the pressure is. I mean, in the
dating scene today, if you say no, you may never get a date again, right? So,
what do you do? Let's talk about that next week. Let's see what God's Word says,
and let's see what God's Word has given us, to stand victorious in purity, O.K.?
Now if you have sinned sexually, I don't want you to think it's the end of the
world, either. I want you to know that you are forgiven, if you will repent
of your sins, Jesus will forgive you. If you'll turn from it, if you'll leave
that lifestyle Jesus will forgive you.
He's already done it at the cross, you've been forgiven. You need to claim the
forgiveness of Jesus Christ. And it says, "And such were some of you, but you
are washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (I Cor. 6:11-12). You are forgiven
in Christ. He doesn't hate you. But you can reap awful consequences from your
sin. God's forgiveness doesn't mean you won't get A.I.D.S. or syphilis, which
is now in epidemic stages [to say nothing of incurable herpes which will destroy
your ability to have a loving sexual relationship in marriage for the rest of
your life!]. What you sow you will reap. We can pray for a crop failure, though.
[Jesus in John 8 said to the woman caught in adultery, "Now go and sin no more."
He forgave her and set her free."]
[This has been a transcript of a sermon given by pastor J. Mark
Martin of Calvary Community Church, Phoenix, Arizona.]