Sermon Tone Analysis

MBC – 8~/29~/2004 - Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“The Bible and Homosexuality - Pt.2”/*

Romans 1:26-32

 

Before we turn to Romans, I want us to hear the words of the Lord Jesus, this morning:

 

Ø      JOH 5:24,25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

Jesus said that the world is in its final hour.

It is in the throes of death.

But like a trumpet blast echoing off the walls of history, the good news of the gospel is calling men and women to trust in Jesus and be saved from God’s judgment.

And all over the world, people are being awakened by God to hear that call and they are being gathered into the kingdom of God!

The Gospel is good news and it is /powerful/ news.

What Paul wants to show in this first chapter of Romans is just how badly the gospel is needed--how lost and immersed in sin this world is--and how deserving of God’s wrath and judgment.

But against this dark, depressing backdrop, the Gospel shines forth as the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes--everyone:

 

Ø      ROM 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Ø      ROM 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

Ø      ROM 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Ø      ROM 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

Ø      ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Ø      ROM 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Ø      ROM 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Ø      ROM 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Ø      ROM 1:24 ¶ Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

Ø      ROM 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Amen.

Ø      ROM 1:26 ¶ For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,

Ø      ROM 1:27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Ø      ROM 1:28 ¶ And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

Ø      ROM 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,

Ø      ROM 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

Ø      ROM 1:31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

Ø      ROM 1:32 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.

*Intro:* /“God in the hands of angry sinners”/

 

Let’s remind ourselves of the progression in Paul’s thought in this section.

He begins with:

 

1.

Revelation.

God has revealed Himself clearly, abundantly--redundantly--through His creation.

Everyone knows it.

Everyone knows there is a God.

No one has an excuse for not acknowledging God.

 

2.

Rejection.

Even though he has this knowledge of God, he willfully rejects it.

3.

Rationalization.

He not only rejects God, but he calls himself wise for doing so.

 

4.

Religion.

He tries to run as far from God as he can by trading the true God for false gods and false worship.

He appears to be moral and religious, but he is an immoral idolater.

5.

Reprobation.

Look at v.28: “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind.”

When people consistently, willfully reject the truth about God that they know--when they say “We put God to the test and He doesn’t pass our test--thumbs down”--then God gives them over to a mind that fails the test.

He turns them over to a mind that can’t think rationally about right or wrong.

And the fruit of their darkened, depraved, reprobate mind spills out in 22 different words that describe their lives (vv.28-32).

And the cap on all of it is in v.32:

 

Ø      ROM 1:32 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.

Doesn’t this describe our society?

They become cheerleaders for every imaginable sin.

Their heroes are those who are the most filthy, vile, immoral, and shameless.

They cheer on those who flaunt their sins the most openly--“Two thumbs up!”

They give hearty approval to everything evil--

 

It’s the same word used of Saul, giving hearty approval to the murder of godly Stephen in Acts 8:1.

And it’s what we see when we turn on the news and see the biggest female stars in Hollywood, shamelessly promoting abortion, the murder of unborn children--and the crowds cheer.

Ø      Recently a group of so-called Christian pastors met together at Christ Church in Cambridge, MA to strategize about how to legalize gay marriage.

One of these imposters spoke at a session and said, “If we are successful in our struggle, it will destroy traditional marriage and be the end of civilization as we have known it”--and the crowds cheered!

They cheered because they are evil and depraved, and they no longer have any sense of right or wrong, up or down.

And it points out what we see in this downward progression in Rom.1, those who reject God are given over to their sins, and given over to more hatred of God.

They become /God-haters/--v.30.

Why if God would come down from heaven and step foot on their turf, they would kill Him.

And they did!

What Paul is describing in Romans 1 is exactly what we see in our world today: “God in the hands of angry sinners” who mock Him and blaspheme Him and cheer on those who do.

And it’s in this context that Paul brings up homosexuality.

Paul wasn’t trying to convince his Romans readers that homosexuality was wrong!

Their own consciences told them that!

He was bringing it up as an example and proof of man’s depravity.

But today, the words of v.32 are true.

Those who do this receive hearty approval.

Homosexuals are today’s heroes.

Most of us remember just a few years ago when Ellen DeGeneres was booted off of TV when she announced that she is a lesbian.

She has her own talk show now, and by the way, she will be appearing in a new movie--

 

Ø      It’s a remake of a movie done back in the 70’s--George Burns played the leading role then--Oh God!--but this time, God will be Ellen DeGeneres, a lesbian woman.

We need to know what is going on.

We need to be aware of the homosexual agenda, to brainwash you and your children into not only accepting this perversion, but giving it hearty approval.

I won’t go into all the ways the homosexual agenda has already come into the public school system, but I’ll just remind you how they came in and began the “Gay-straight Alliance” club right next door, two years ago.

And how just last May, when the seniors were discussing a topic for the senior debate, the topic chosen was “Gay  Marriage,” but they had to give it up as a debate topic, because only two seniors took a stand saying it is immoral and wrong--both were kids from our church.”

It used to be that homosexuality was a crime.

Now it is a crime to even call it a sin.

Ø      In Sept., of 2003, Canada passed a new “hate speech” law, that makes it a crime to repeat what Scripture says about homosexuality.

One evangelical Christian man put an ad in the newspaper in which he just listed 4 Bible references about homo.

(we will look at them in a minute)--just the references--he wanted people to go home and look them up!

But 3 homo.

men filed a complaint saying they were offended, and the man was found guilty of breaking this law and forced to pay each sodomite $1,500.

Ø      Ake Green, pastor of a Pentecostal congregation in Kalmar, Sweden, was sentenced to one month in prison on a charge of inciting hatred against homosexuals.

Pastor Green was prosecuted for his sermon in a January hearing, where he was found guilty of "hate speech against homosexuals" for a sermon preached in 2003.

Do you realize that if we were all simply located in another country this morning, I could be arrested for this sermon?

By the way, as we speak, a law very similar to the one passed in Canada, SB 1234, has already been passed by both houses in CA, and is sitting on the Governator’s desk waiting for his signature.

Romans 1 is here, folks!

I read this: Homosexual advocates predict that a Kerry White House would be the most pro-homosexual administration in U.S. history: "Gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered social agenda -- all of that is very much a part of Senator Kerry's philosophy of government and social restructuring. . .

(they go on to say) You could give the homosexual activists whatever they want today -- marriage, all the benefits, everything -- but they will not be satisfied until the Church is absolutely silenced on this issue.

The bottom line is that as long as the Church says that homosexual behavior is sinful, they feel stigmatized."

So we need to begin this morning by answering the question--

 

*I.

Is it sin?*