Sermon Tone Analysis

Well good morning church!

I trust everyone received a copy of this letter when you came in.

This letter was sent from a brother in Canada to a prominent minister here in the US.

And it outlines how, beginning January 8th, it will be illegal for them in Canada to preach what I’m about to preach to you this morning.

Pastors across the nation will be preaching this on January 16thto stand with our brothers in Canada.

We just happen to have a guest preacher coming on the 16th, so I’ll be preaching on the Gospel & Sexuality this morning.

Before I begin… Let me just acknowledge that this is more than a 30 minute conversation.

But with our limited time, I’m going to try and give you the best understanding of the Biblical perspective of Sexuality that I can.

I’m going to begin by showing you God’s design for marriage and God’s design for sex… and then we’re going to push into the questions that our culture is asking.

I also want to say upfront that during this conversation, I’m not going to be graphic for the sake of being graphic, but I am going to be talking openly and plainly about sexuality… so if you’ve got little years with you, you can make a decision of what’s appropriate for them.

I will say this though… Children are hearing this stuff from the world at a younger and younger age.

Personally, I think it’s important that they hear Biblical truths from Godly parents… and the church.

Here’s the baseline of this issue… and honestly, this is the baseline of EVERY issue that we face in culture.

The fundamental question which lies underneath all issues… When it comes to right and wrong… When it comes to what is true and what is false… When it comes to how life works best… Who gets to decide these things for me?

Understand that this is more than just saying words.

Paul is telling people that they must be willing to say that Jesus is Lord in the face of persecution.

Is Jesus your Lord?

Going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, we… mankind… we want to make those calls for ourselves.

We want to decide what is right and what is wrong for ourselves.

Now, let’s be honest… This is the attitude of our culture.

Our culture says… we will decide for ourselves what’s right and wrong.

But it’s not just out there… it’s in here as well.

This attitude is in our own hearts.

Each time that we sin, that’s exactly the dynamic that is playing out in our life.

We’re saying to God, Regardless of what you says… I’m going to decide for me what I should and shouldn’t do.

And so understand… This is not going to be an Us vs Them conversation… This is going to be an US conversation.

Heterosexual, homosexual, straight, gay, lesbian, bi, trans, celibate, married, single, divorced, young and old… at the fall in Genesis chapter 3… all of creation comes under the curse… and this includes our sexuality.

Every single one of us… our sense of sexuality has been marred by sin.

So this is going to be an US conversation because sin has tainted sexuality for every single one of us.

If you have your Bible this morning, and I hope that you do, turn with me to Genesis 2. If you don’t have your Bible, all the Scriptures will be on the screen… but I still encourage you to write these Scriptures down so that you can test what I’m saying.

Don’t ever just take my word for it… test what I’m saying against Scripture.

It’s not my words that have power… it’s God’s Word that has power.

So always take everything back to the Bible.

This one flesh language that we see coming out of Genesis chapter 2, where two of opposites come together, that’s God’s design.

And in this design of man and woman… we see perhaps the very first picture of the gospel.

What do I mean by that?

The marriage relationship is a snapshot of God’s relationship with us.

We see this all over Scripture in this use of husband and wife, bride and bridegroom language.

Song of Songs… The lover pursues his beloved… that’s a picture of how God pursues our hearts through Jesus.

It’s in Isaiah 61 and 62, it’s all over Jeremiah, it’s in Hosea, Malachi, Matthew 22, Ephesians 5, and Revelations 18, 19, 21, and 22.

Our relationship with God is portrayed as a husband-wife, bride-bridegroom relationship.

So marriage is this incredible picture of God’s love for us.

Yet that image is marred in Genesis chapter 3. We talked a moment ago about that… where mankind says… God I will determine what is right and what is wrong for me.

In the book of Romans, Paul gives us an analysis of this dynamic.

Look at Romans chapter 1 with me.

Starting in verse 21.

Now… in 2022, in the United States, most people do not have statues of men or birds or animals in their homes that they worship.

What we do worship, however, is ourselves… and that is, in essence, what Paul is saying here… that we are affixing our affections someplace else rather than on God.

Keep going… Verse 24…

In his mention of creation, Paul gives this link back to the book of Genesis… specifically Genesis chapter 3… where we tell God, thanks but no thanks… I’m going to do what I’m going to do.

And we read here that that God gave them up.

This is God saying… Look, if you want to walk away from my protection… if you want to walk away from how I’ve designed life to work best… you have a free will… I’ll allow you to do that.

Let’s see how that works for you.

Paul continues in verse 26…

Now, I know exactly what most of you are thinking… but I’m going to ask you to stop thinking it for a moment.

Before we can say… Look… There’s homosexuality right there… we have to keep reading… because what we see next is that this is not just a homosexual thing… it’s an ALL OF US thing.

Verse 28…

So let’s be very clear about something.

What Paul is doing here… he’s using homosexuality as an example of how the created order has been shattered by sin… he’s using it as an example of how we look at God and say… I know what you say God, but I’m going to determine what’s best for me… not you.

I know that you say that sex is only for within the bound of marriage between opposites, a man and a woman… but regardless of what you say… right and wrong is for me to determine for myself.

And then Paul goes on to point out that it’s that same attitude with every sin.

Gossip… Slander… Envy… Arrogance… Deceit… Disobeying parents.

Homosexuality may not be a temptation for you… but I bet one of these other things is.

Let me be very clear about something… Yes, acting on homosexual desires is sin… but Romans chapter 1 CAN NOT be used as a club to beat people with… nor can it be used as a social media rant.

I’ve said it many times before… and I’ll say it again… the point of Romans chapter 1 is this… we are all in the same boat… and that boat’s name is I deserve hell because I’m a sinner.

One more passage.

Matthew chapter 15.

The back story here is that the religious leaders have come to Jesus… and they say… your followers are not obeying the ceremonial religious rule of washing their hands before they eat.

Which automatically let’s me know that I could not be friends with the disciples.

Not for religious reasons… but please people… wash your hands before you eat.

That’s just gross.

Anyway… Jesus pushes back.

Look at what He says… Verse 18…

So, Jesus says that the grid for right and wrong is not a question of adherence to a bunch a ceremonial religious rules, with Jesus saying is that when it comes to sin, it’s what flows from naturally from your heart.

And then, Jesus gives a list of what naturally flows out of the human heart.

And in this list, we see the words… Sexual Immorality.

Now… Some will counter the traditional church’s claim that homosexuality is sin by asking… well why doesn’t Jesus ever say anything about it?

First, understand the context here… Jesus is dealing with a bunch of religiously observant Jews, and for them, homosexuality wasn’t a question.

Make no mistake though, Jesus wasn’t silent on the issue.

The Greek word there for Sexual Immorality is the word Porneia.

Porneia is a category word that speaks to all kinds of sexual sin.

Sex outside of marriage… Sex before you’re married… Cheating on your spouse… Infidelity… Adultery… Pornography… Incest… Dwelling on lustful thoughts… Homosexuality… all of those fall under the category of Porneia.

Porneia, Sexual Immorality, is a heart issue… it’s something that is naturally inside of us.

So understand… when our culture says… I was made this way… or, I can’t help the way that I feel… Yup… That’s probably true.

Culture says… When you look within, you find the solution.

Jesus says… When you look within, you find the problem.

Our hearts are the problem.

These 2 approaches are fundamentally different.

Culture will tell you that no matter what they are, your sexual desires define you because they flow from the core of who you are.

Jesus says… it’s the core of who you are that defiles you… not what defines you.

Our culture has clearly made sex an idol to the point of saying your expression of your sexual desires, again no matter what those might be, are essential to the expression of your human identity.

That you’re missing out on life if your sexual desires are not fulfilled.

And our children, especially, are growing up within this pressure of finding their sexual identity… way before they even need to be thinking about sex.

Culture says… look within your heart to find what will make you happy.

Jesus says… no… it’s what’s within you is the problem.

It’s out of the heart that all of this sin flows.

Evil thoughts, murder, theft, lying, slander, sexual immorality.

Let’s end this with 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

The apostle Paul gives us another list of sins… which includes a number of sexual sins… and then he says in verse 11…

While culture tells us that we are defined by our sexual desires… those are your identity… run with your desires… Jesus says… No, no, no… that is not true.