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10 episodes with robert gagnon
12 episodes with robert gagnon
5 episodes with robert gagnon
6 episodes with robert gagnon
3 episodes with robert gagnon
2 episodes with robert gagnon
2 episodes with robert gagnon
3 episodes with robert gagnon
3 episodes with robert gagnon
Support The Becket Cook Show on Patreon! In this episode, Dr. Robert Gagnon joins the show to break down Bishop Mariann Budde’s controversial sermon at Trump’s inaugural prayer service, where she twisted Jesus’ teachings to push a leftist agenda. We dive into her political activism, misinterpretation of Christian doctrine, and hypocrisy regarding wealth and immigration. Dr. Gagnon also exposes the scientific flaws behind transgender ideology and discusses the real impact of illegal immigration. Finally, he warns against progressive reinterpretations of scripture and emphasizes the need for true biblical repentance. Don’t miss this powerful and eye-opening discussion! Robert Gagnon's Article The Becket Cook Show Ep. 190 This Episode of The Becket Cook Show is available on YouTube Join the Patreon! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Robert Gagnon is the most prolific scholar of sexuality in scripture. This past fall, well-known New Testament scholar, Richard Hays, published The Widening of God's Mercy, co-authored with his son Christopher (an Old Testament professor at Fuller Seminary). This book shows that not only has Richard Hays changed his mind about the bible and sexual ethics, but so has God. Gagnon authored several responses to the Hayeses and he joined me to critique their book.Youtube - https://youtu.be/c8UxTDOQTBkAudio - https://andymilleriii.com/media/podcastApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4https://thefederalist.com/2024/12/16/12-disqualifying-errors-in-richard-hays-biblical-case-for-gay-relationships/If you are interested in learning more about my two video-accompanied courses, Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude andHeaven and Other Destinations: A Biblical Journey Beyond this World , visit courses.andymilleriii.comAnd don't forget about my most recent book, Contender, which is available on Amazon! Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching. Today's episode is brought to you by Wesley Biblical Seminary. Interested in going deeper in your faith? Check out our certificate programs, B.A., M.A.s, M.Div., and D.Min degrees. You will study with world-class faculty and the most racially diverse student body in the country. www.wbs.eduThanks too to Phil Laeger for my podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net
All over the country, the prices we're paying for food are giving people sticker shock, and changing behaviours.Statistics Canada tells us food prices have gone up 22 per cent in the past four years. Food Banks Canada says 40 per cent of us are feeling financially worse off than we were last year. So as we enter into a season of celebration and food we want to know: how are you putting food on the table right now?When Julianna Romanyk realized some of her friends were struggling with high grocery costs, she got an idea: invite them into her kitchen for monthly ‘meal prep parties.' Now everyone shows up to her Toronto home with one ingredient and a stack of Tupperware, and makes a week's worth of food together - creating community along the way.At a free dinner in Winnipeg's north end, we sit down with people who reveal their food security is based on dumpster diving, stealing to survive, and a calendar that keeps track of where free food can be found in the neighbourhood.In Nunavut, grocery store prices are sky high and Kyra Kilabuk is sharing the details on TikTok so everyone can know about it. On Now or Never Kyra shares what it takes for her family of five to make ends meet in Iqaluit.At Helen Detwiler Elementary School in Hamilton, 400 students are waiting for breakfast, but the school's food program can only offer half of what they once did. Find out why milk is now off the table at this school in need.If you lift the lid in Robert Gagnon's basement, you'll find hundreds of pounds of elk meat, some salmon fillets, and even a little bit of elk tongue and moose nose. Robert is bagging game on his Lheidli T'enneh First Nation territory, to help feed his family and put meat on elders' tables.
A new MP3 sermon from Alpha and Omega Ministries is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: A Few Comments on the Revolution, then a Response to Robert Gagnon on John 10 Subtitle: The Dividing Line 2024 Speaker: Dr. James White Broadcaster: Alpha and Omega Ministries Event: Podcast Date: 8/21/2024 Length: 62 min.
Snuck in a program today mainly focusing upon John 10 and Robert Gagnon's comments about -eternal security,- though we did start off with a few -our culture is collapsing into a Marxist cesspool- observations at the start.
Snuck in a program today mainly focusing upon John 10 and Robert Gagnon's comments about "eternal security," though we did start off with a few "our culture is collapsing into a Marxist cesspool" observations at the start.
Snuck in a program today mainly focusing upon John 10 and Robert Gagnon's comments about -eternal security,- though we did start off with a few -our culture is collapsing into a Marxist cesspool- observations at the start.
After running our raffle and determining the winner of the wonderful Derek Melton blade, and after I spent some time talking about a neat and encouraging gift from a young man at Apologia, we turned to Roman Catholicism, Pope Francis, and the entire complex of Marian doctrines that are so utterly destructive to the gospel and to Christian experience. We will do another program tomorrow afternoon where I will be providing a response to Dr. Robert Gagnon on John 10:29 as well.
After running our raffle and determining the winner of the wonderful Derek Melton blade, and after I spent some time talking about a neat and encouraging gift from a young man at Apologia, we turned to Roman Catholicism, Pope Francis, and the entire complex of Marian doctrines that are so utterly destructive to the gospel and to Christian experience. We will do another program tomorrow afternoon where I will be providing a response to Dr. Robert Gagnon on John 10-29 as well.
After running our raffle and determining the winner of the wonderful Derek Melton blade, and after I spent some time talking about a neat and encouraging gift from a young man at Apologia, we turned to Roman Catholicism, Pope Francis, and the entire complex of Marian doctrines that are so utterly destructive to the gospel and to Christian experience. We will do another program tomorrow afternoon where I will be providing a response to Dr. Robert Gagnon on John 10-29 as well.
Major trigger warning and sensitivity alert for those who may not want to discuss sensitive and violent topics such as sexual assault and violence. This was a tricky topic to discuss. Dr. Yonts is a well-educated and experienced teacher who understands the scripture surrounding this topic, so in this discussion we venture into the Biblical perspective on same-sex attraction with the understanding that some may find this offensive to their lifestyle and persons. However, we pray that this discussion's effort to not offend, shame, or isolate any single group is recognized. The goal of this conversation is relevant to Christians who hope to understand the Biblical perspective on this topic rather than shame the LGBTQ community. If you or a friend is curious and confused as to why and how same-sex attraction is not condoned in the eyes of God, we encourage you to listen. Please know that as your brother and sister in Christ it is not our job to judge. Dr. Tim Yonts grew up near Cincinnati, OH in a Christian home. He became a follower of Christ at the age of 12 and surrendered to teaching ministry at age 19. He holds a Master of Divinity from Liberty University and a PhD in Theological Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he specialized in ethics. Dr. Yonts is currently an adjunct professor at Liberty University where he teaches courses in theology, worldview, apologetics, and ethics. He's also the co-host of the Psych & Theo podcast, a show that tackles contemporary issues at the intersection of psychology and theology. Additional Reading: Learn more about Dr. Tim Yonts https://www.standingforfreedom.com/authors/tim-yonts/ Listen to Psych & Theo: https://open.spotify.com/show/2q0hfSXTA3hKGZqcqp9gRd?si=1611fa890fcb4749 The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics by Robert Gagnon: https://amzn.to/3AibgTf --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/biblically-speaking-cb/support
Managed to pull off a solid internet connection from a slight wide spot in the road called Lordsburg, New Mexico -really sad little town...lots of abandoned buildings-. We covered a wide variety of things, including announcing the upcoming debates, April 24th and 25th, in Lafayette, Louisiana, with Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin -sola scriptura, and -How Does a Man Have Peace with God----. We discussed conversion, anthropology, and more, looking at Ezekiel 36, Titus 2, and even an old article Robert Gagnon reposted about John 6-39.
Managed to pull off a solid internet connection from a slight wide spot in the road called Lordsburg, New Mexico -really sad little town...lots of abandoned buildings-. We covered a wide variety of things, including announcing the upcoming debates, April 24th and 25th, in Lafayette, Louisiana, with Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin -sola scriptura, and -How Does a Man Have Peace with God----. We discussed conversion, anthropology, and more, looking at Ezekiel 36, Titus 2, and even an old article Robert Gagnon reposted about John 6-39.
Managed to pull off a solid internet connection from a slight wide spot in the road called Lordsburg, New Mexico (really sad little town...lots of abandoned buildings). We covered a wide variety of things, including announcing the upcoming debates, April 24th and 25th, in Lafayette, Louisiana, with Catholic Answers apologist Jimmy Akin (sola scriptura, and "How Does a Man Have Peace with God?"). We discussed conversion, anthropology, and more, looking at Ezekiel 36, Titus 2, and even an old article Robert Gagnon reposted about John 6:39.
The #HeGetsUs campaign has been a hot topic as a result of a #SuperBowlLVII commercial. This podcast was a live conversation I hosted on Facebook with Drs. Robert Gagnon and Steve Blakemore about their thoughts concerning this commercial and the messages conveyed through it.Youtube - https://youtu.be/rV1AZeT0XdcAudio - https://andymilleriii.com/media/podcastApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4Planning your church's small group curriculum? Check out my Contender Course and Heaven Course! Find out more here - courses.andymilleriii.comAnd don't forget about my new book Contender, which is available on Amazon! Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching. Today's episode is brought to you by these two sponsors: Bill Roberts is a financial advisor, who has been serving the retirement planning and investment needs of individuals, families, non-profits, and churches for 25 years. He is a Certified Financial Planner and accredited investment fiduciary. Bill specializes in working with Salvation Army employees and officers by helping them realize their financial goals. You can find out more about Bill's business at www.WilliamHRoberts.comANDWesley Biblical Seminary - Interested in going deeper in your faith? Check out our certificate programs, B.A., M.A.s, M.Div., and D.Min degrees. You will study with world-class faculty and the most racially diverse student body in the country. www.wbs.eduThanks too to Phil Laeger for my podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net
All the good ones are gettin' buried!
Support The Becket Cook Show on Patreon! In today's episode, Becket examines the new development of the Pope allowing priests to bless same-sex couples in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Declaration: http://tinyurl.com/34p52b6j Dr. Robert Gagnon's Article: http://tinyurl.com/58usp84j The Becket Cook Show Ep. 148This Episode of The Becket Cook Show is available on YouTubeJoin the Patreon! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Here is a live podcast I did with Dr. Robert Gagnon. We discuss his response to Andy Stanley's recent statement at Northpoint Church on human sexuality and the church. You can find that article here: https://wbs.edu/news/andy-stanleys-circles-and-lines/Check out my book released just this past summer. You can buy it HERE on Amazon. Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude is important for our time because the people Jude was writing to were dealing with many issues relevant to what we are experiencing in the church today. Jude calls us to Contend for the Faith once delivered to the saints! This book of the Bible is small but mighty and I unpack it all in this new book I've written.Take a look at my new video course for small groups, Heaven and Other Destinations: A Biblical Journey Beyond this World. Included is five full length teaching sessions, bonus teaching videos, PDF discussion guides, and a discussion board where you can leave comments and ask me questions!
Rent. Groceries. Transportation. For so many, the costs of everyday life are adding up - and they're being forced to make tough decisions about how they're going to make ends meet. Hear how people from all walks of life are navigating their way through this financial crisis.With grocery prices sky high, Robert Gagnon is bagging his own meat. He's filling his basement freezer with hundreds of pounds of elk meat, as well as salmon, moose nose, and elk tongue, to feed his family and to share with local elders.Due to rising costs of rent and food, Katherine Goodes can no longer afford to live on her own, which means the 67-year-old is doing something she never thought she would have to at her age... find roommates.In the centre of Toronto's financial district you'll find Brian, an unhoused man who proudly sweeps the streets to earn money from passersby. But with rising costs and a medical condition that restricts his diet, covering his basic needs is a daily struggle. This school year, undergraduate international students are expected to pay on average at least four times more than their Canadian classmates. Hear how Nepali student Tshering Futi Sherpa is balancing school, work and homesickness to live out her dream of studying abroad. Alistair Wright was barely making ends meet at his dinner theatre job when the union went on strike. Then the theatre closed. But there's something that won't let Alistair give up on his dream.In Nunavut, grocery store prices are sky high and Kyra Kilabuk is sharing the details on TikTok so everyone can know about it. Kyra shares what it takes for her family of five to make ends meet in Iqaluit.
We love those in the LGBTQ community. It is confusing then to hear people claim we don't. But what does that look like? Bobby continues his dialogue with Dr. Robert Gagnon. He is considered the foremost scholar on the traditionalist position. He's credentialed from the Ivy League system at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton and currently serves as a professor at Houston Baptist Seminary. I will hand you over to the scholars. More Information at: http://www.robgagnon.net/ Visit www.christianitystillmakessense.com
Sexuality plays such a central role in our lives, particularly in our culture today. But, some Christians want to distort Jesus' teaching on this topic. Dr. Robert Gagnon is considered the foremost scholar on the traditionalist position. He's credentialed from the Ivy League system at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton and currently serves as a professor at Houston Baptist Seminary. He is the author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics and co-author (with Dan O. Via) of Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views. Dr. Bobby Conway asks some tough questions on same-sex actions and the Bible's teachings. Find More at http://www.robgagnon.net/
Should a Christian attend a gay wedding? This question crystallizes an important issue for our time. Dr. Robert Gagnon is a leading scholar on the bible and homosexuality and joined me on today's podcast. This conversation was incredibly helpful to me. We talk about Jesus' view of sexuality, working with children, and tips for engaging in culture in these challenging times.Youtube - https://youtu.be/i55ddNZNrnMAudio - https://andymilleriii.com/media/podcastApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4He wrote this article on the question.Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude - This all-inclusive small group study on the book of Jude is out now. Check it out on the course page: http://courses.andymilleriii.comFive Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - I'm excited to share some news with you. Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching. Today's episode is brought to you by these two sponsors: Bill Roberts is a financial advisor, who has been serving the retirement planning and investment needs of individuals, families, non-profits, and churches for 25 years. He is a Certified Financial Planner and accredited investment fiduciary. Bill specializes in working with Salvation Army employees and officers by helping them realize their financial goals. You can find out more about Bill's business at www.WilliamHRoberts.comANDWesley Biblical Seminary - Interested in going deeper in your faith? Check out our certificate programs, B.A., M.A.s, M.Div., and D.Min degrees. You will study with world-class faculty and the most racially diverse student body in the country. www.wbs.eduThanks too to Phil Laeger for my podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net
In this episode of Life-Changing Discipleship, Dr. Gagnon joins the podcast to talk about the biblical foundation for sexual ethics.
Support The Becket Cook Show on Patreon! In today's episode, Becket talks with biblical scholar, Robert Gagnon, about whether or not Christians should attend a gay wedding. The way he answers this important question is surprising and eye-opening. I think this episode will be of great help to those struggling with this question. Dr. Robert Gagnon's Article - https://christoverall.com/article/concise/is-it-loving-for-a-faithful-christian-to-go-to-a-gay-wedding/ The Becket Cook Show Ep. 120This Episode of The Becket Cook Show is available on YouTubeJoin the Patreon! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
The last show this week is a heavy hitter! Dr. Robert Gagnon & Dr. Joe Rigney in the studio to discuss the book “The Bible and Homosexual Practice”. The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics by Dr. Robert Gagnon https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Homosexual-Practice-Texts-Hermeneutics/dp/0687022797 Sign up for the FLF Conference at the Ark Encounter! (Oct 11-14) https://flfnetwork.com/the-politics-of-six-days-creation-conference/ Become a Fight Laugh Feast Member (Support the Show!) https://flfnetwork.com/product/fightlaughfestclub/
The last show this week is a heavy hitter! Dr. Robert Gagnon & Dr. Joe Rigney in the studio to discuss the book “The Bible and Homosexual Practice”. The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics by Dr. Robert Gagnon https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Homosexual-Practice-Texts-Hermeneutics/dp/0687022797 Sign up for the FLF Conference at the Ark Encounter! (Oct 11-14) https://flfnetwork.com/the-politics-of-six-days-creation-conference/ Become a Fight Laugh Feast Member (Support the Show!) https://flfnetwork.com/product/fightlaughfestclub/
Dr. Robert Gagnon of Houston Christian University joins Sarah and Evan to tackle the question of homosexuality. Dr. Gagnon is an expert on this topic and covers a wide range of biblical texts, themes, and objections. To learn more, find Dr. Gagnon on Facebook or visit his website, robgagnon.net.
On this episode of Open Mike, Mike is joined by Bible scholar and theologian professor Dr. Robert Gagnon to discuss biblical sexuality and God's design for men and women. Episode Resource: Dr. Gagnon's Website Sick of Mainstream Media Lies? Please Support us in bringing you real, truthful reporting and analysis from a Christian perspective. Subscribe to our various shows: LIBERTY DISPATCH PODCAST: https://libertydispatch.podbean.com OPEN MIKE WITH MICHAEL THIESSEN:https://openmikewithmichaelthiessen.podbean.com Stay up-to-date on all things LCC (https://libertycoalitioncanada.com): Gab: https://gab.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Telegram: https://t.me/libertycoalitioncanadanews; Instagram: https://instagram.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Facebook: https://facebook.com/LibertyCoalitionCanada; Twitter: @LibertyCCanada - https://twitter.com/LibertyCCanada; Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LibertyCoalitionCanada; YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb1yNIeJ-2bSuHRW4oftRQ You can also find us on Spotify & Apple Podcasts and just about every other podcast catcher! Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW and SHARE it with others!
On this episode of Open Mike, Mike is joined by Bible scholar and theologian professor Dr. Robert Gagnon to discuss biblical sexuality and God's design for men and women. Episode Resource: Dr. Gagnon's Website Sick of Mainstream Media Lies? Please Support us in bringing you real, truthful reporting and analysis from a Christian perspective. Subscribe to our various shows: LIBERTY DISPATCH PODCAST: https://libertydispatch.podbean.com OPEN MIKE WITH MICHAEL THIESSEN: https://openmikewithmichaelthiessen.podbean.com Stay up-to-date on all things LCC (https://libertycoalitioncanada.com): Gab: https://gab.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Telegram: https://t.me/libertycoalitioncanadanews; Instagram: https://instagram.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Facebook: https://facebook.com/LibertyCoalitionCanada; Twitter: @LibertyCCanada - https://twitter.com/LibertyCCanada; Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LibertyCoalitionCanada; YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb1yNIeJ-2bSuHRW4oftRQ You can also find us on Spotify & Apple Podcasts and just about every other podcast catcher! Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW and SHARE it with others!
On this episode of Open Mike, Mike is joined by Bible scholar and theologian professor Dr. Robert Gagnon to discuss biblical sexuality and God's design for men and women. Episode Resource: Dr. Gagnon's Website Sick of Mainstream Media Lies? Please Support us in bringing you real, truthful reporting and analysis from a Christian perspective. Subscribe to our various shows: LIBERTY DISPATCH PODCAST: https://libertydispatch.podbean.com OPEN MIKE WITH MICHAEL THIESSEN: https://openmikewithmichaelthiessen.podbean.com Stay up-to-date on all things LCC (https://libertycoalitioncanada.com): Gab: https://gab.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Telegram: https://t.me/libertycoalitioncanadanews; Instagram: https://instagram.com/libertycoalitioncanada; Facebook: https://facebook.com/LibertyCoalitionCanada; Twitter: @LibertyCCanada - https://twitter.com/LibertyCCanada; Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LibertyCoalitionCanada; YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb1yNIeJ-2bSuHRW4oftRQ You can also find us on Spotify & Apple Podcasts and just about every other podcast catcher! Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW and SHARE it with others!
Is it possible that getting teens to read the Bible could actually move them away from God's good order and design for sexuality? If they read an updated version of the Bible that is being released this month, that could happen. This update of 1989's New Revised Standard Version is called NRSVUE. Many of the more than twenty-thousand changes are helpful as they are based on updated textual discoveries. Yet this new Bible project also aims to reflect what scholars call modern sensibilities. One concern is that the Greek word translated “men who have sex with men” has been changed to “men who engage in sexual immorality”. New Testament scholar Robert Gagnon says this change “gaywashes” the text to eliminate the clear reference to homosexual practice in I Corinthians 6:9. We must not change and conform the Bible to our cultural preferences. Rather, we must change and conform ourselves to God's will as revealed in a properly translated Bible.
Week two of a masterful exposition of the biblical texts concerning human sexuality (and homosexuality in particular) by the world's foremost scholar on the subject.
A masterful exposition of the biblical texts concerning human sexuality (and homosexuality in particular) by the world's foremost scholar on the subject.
If the last DL caused you to lose sleep because of the creepy stuff we played from the global elites, today's clips from our governmental overlords will probably produce more insomnia. Sorry, but while there is still some daylight left, expose the unfruitful works of darkness. After a half hour of that -including reading Amy Grant's comments about welcoming the LGBTQ movement- I moved on to a review of key statements by Dr. Robert Gagnon, now of Houston Baptist University, on the subject of soteriology, and specifically regarding his claim that true, regenerate believers can be lost by not -maintaining their election.-
À l'hiver 1831-32, les nouvelles de la pandémie de choléra qui sévit en Angleterre parviennent jusqu'à nous. En février 1832, les députés de la Chambre d'assemblée du Bas-Canada et le gouverneur Lord Alymer mandatent l'armée britannique pour réquisitionner Grosse-île comme station de quarantaines pour les milliers d'immigrants Irlandais qui arriveront au pays dès que le fleuve sera libéré des glaces hivernales . Deux bureaux de santé sont fondés, un à Québec et l'autre à Montréal. Adhérez à cette chaîne pour obtenir des avantages : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN4TCCaX-gqBNkrUqXdgGRA/join Pour soutenir financièrement la chaîne, trois choix: 1. Cliquez sur le bouton « Adhérer » sous la vidéo. 2. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hndl 3. UTip: https://utip.io/lhistoirenousledira Avec: Laurent Turcot, professeur en histoire à l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada Script: Maude Bouchard-Dupont Montage: Gabriel Dupuis et Laurent Turcot Abonnez-vous à ma chaine: https://www.youtube.com/c/LHistoirenousledira Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/histoirenousledira Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurentturcot Les vidéos sont utilisées à des fins éducatives selon l'article 107 du Copyright Act de 1976 sur le Fair-Use. Pour aller plus loin: Denis Goulet et Robert Gagnon, Histoire de la médecine au Québec 1800-2000, De l'art de soigner à la science de guérir, Québec, Septentrion, 2014. Denis Goulet, Brève histoire des épidémies au Québec, Du choléra à la COVID-19, Québec, Septentrion, 2020. #histoire #documentaire
In today's News: Concordia NY campus will close On Jan. 28, Concordia College New York, Bronxville, N.Y., and Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y., issued a joint news release detailing the closure of Concordia, Bronxville, in the fall of 2021. The release “announced the institutions are proceeding with a formal agreement for Iona College to acquire Concordia’s Bronxville campus and provide continued education for Concordia’s students through a teach-out plan, enabling most students to continue their degrees to completion at Iona. Concordia College New York classes will cease beginning with the fall 2021 semester and the college will close.” Concordia, Bronxville, though a separate legal entity governed by the Board of Regents, is part of the Concordia University System and, as such, has been an important part of the mission and ministry of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). The impact of the Concordia, Bronxville, closure will be felt by the entire LCMS community. LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison said, “Today our hearts are heavy at the news of the coming closure of Concordia College New York. For 140 years, its graduates have served — and are serving the church and the world — in God-pleasing vocations around the globe. Virginia adoption agencies under threat A bill introduced in the Virginia House would repeal a provision that allows certain state adoption agencies to refuse to place children with homosexual couples because of the agencies’ religious or moral convictions. The bill was introduced by House Del. Mark H. Levine and several other Assembly members on Jan. 13. According to the pro-LGBTQ Movement Advancement Project, Virginia is one of 11 states that allows adoption agencies to deny the placement of children with families or same-sex couples that conflict with their religious beliefs. It is legal for single LGBT persons and gay couples to adopt in Virginia, and numerous adoptions agencies provide the service. Facebook suspends Christian professor A Christian university professor has been suspended from Facebook for voicing disagreement with President Joe Biden’s executive order allowing gender confused individuals to serve in the U.S. military. Robert Gagnon, who teaches New Testament theology at Houston Baptist University and is a renowned scholar on the subject of sexuality, was locked out of his Facebook account for 24 hours on Tuesday after he posted a comment in defense of a friend who posted a satirical commentary about Biden's executive order. Facebook suspended Gagnon's account for what it deemed as “incitement” to violence. In his post, Gagnon said the executive order will endanger women and noted that those who promote transgenderism are allowing males to invade women’s athletics and shelters. He also likened transgender ideology to a “religious cult” and said it “is indeed a pseudo-science,” in that it forces people to reject basic biology. That Facebook suspended his friend for similar comments proves the cult-like dimension, he said.
Making the Christian case against homosexuality has always been a great challenge in our engagement with the world, going all the way back to Genesis and the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. The biblical opposition to homosexual practice is especially relevant in light of the new ruling by Circuit Judge Britt Grant of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding "reparative therapy," whereby individuals with homosexual attractions willingly seek out pastoral or professional counseling to help them fight that specific sin. Keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Gagnon, addressed that topic and others at IFI's 2020 Worldview Conference. In his presentation, How to Make the Christian Case Against Homosexual Practice and Transgenderism, Dr. Gagnon explains why Christians must hold firmly to the truth, found first in Genesis and confirmed throughout Scripture, that God's design of binary sexuality, marriage between one man and one woman, is foundational and inviolate. Dr. Gagnon also refutes the false belief that all sins are equal and warns of the danger in affirming homosexual unions and transgenderism out of a mistaken sense of “love.” This presentation can also be viewed on YouTube. Please share Dr. Gagnon's message with family and friends. Dr. Gagnon is a professor of New Testament theology at Houston Baptist University and the author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics.
Making the Christian case against homosexuality has always been an important part of our struggle with the world (going back to Sodom and Gomorrah). It has become especially prescient with the new ruling by Britt Grant on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding “reparative therapy,” where individuals with homosexual attractions willingly seek out pastoral or professional counseling to help them fight that specific sin. Dr. Robert Gagnon made that case at IFI’s Worldview Conference earlier this year.… Continue Reading
Tough questions mean tough answers if someone is willing to tell the truth. IFI had a couple of such wise, biblically literate men at our 2020 Worldview Conference in February: Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Robert Gagnon. These two are unafraid to tackle the tough questions and give you a tough, truthful answer in return. This podcast spotlights the question and answer session of that conference which generated some interesting, evergreen thoughts for faithful Christians, especially in the lead up to the election.
LGBTQ pressure continues to mount in government, schools, workplaces and even in our churches. Dr. Robert Gagnon argues against policies of appeasement with sexual extremists at this year's IFI worldview conference in Barrington.
I. Contending for the Faith in the War Over Truth Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. This morning, I'm going to be addressing how Christ through the church, can minister to homosexuals, and minister grace to homosexuals. And as I do, I've had a lot of thoughts in my mind. I remember the first time I ever preached in this church was my candidating sermon, back in August of 1998, and I preached on Matthew 16 one of the great images and one of the great statements of Jesus. Their in Caesarea Philippi, He said, "On this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." This is a powerful image. And it's somewhat complex. It's both static and dynamic.There's a sense of the church as a rising structure, a bulwark, like a walled fortress. And then there's the sense of the corresponding evil fortress of Satan, of death, and hell. And so Jesus is going to build this structure that will last for all eternity and send it against the gates of Hades, and they will... The gates of Hades will lose, the church will win. And so again and again, we have this same kind of complex image of the church as a fortress to be defended, and as warriors to be unleashed. Both of them are true. You get the same thing in the little Book of Jude. In Jude 3, there with Jude, the brother of James, he identifies himself, he said, "I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." So we're supposed to contend for doctrine, the faith is doctrine, especially the doctrine of the Gospel. We're supposed to fight for it and contend for it, that it not be perverted, that key elements not be lost. But then at the end of that little book, Jude 23, he gives us another image where he urges us to snatch people from the flames, snatch people from the fire and save them, Jude 23. So that's the dynamic issue where we're sent out and trying to rescue individuals. So both of those are in my mind as we address this very challenging issue of homosexuality in our day. So you got that defensive image of a walled fortress that we have to fight for, we have to defend. Our souls individually and the church collectively is besieged by Satan, by demonic forces. And Satan's very clever, he searches out weak spots in the fortress and gives special attention to those breaches in the wall. And from the very beginning, once Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked, human sexuality has been twisted or perverted, it's a weak spot in the wall. We all feel it. And there are various versions of twisted sexuality, but it's a weak spot. So you've got that defensive image, and you can imagine if you are a warrior on the walls and you are called on to defend it against a besieging force, if you notice, all of the besieging, attacking army suddenly run to one particular place, and give focus and attention there, you would, if you were the commander, give special attention there because clearly there's a weak spot there. So also for us individually, if you see yourself feeling again and again in a certain area, you can be certain that's a weak spot, a chink in the armor, a breach in the wall. Now, we also have that offensive image where we're called on to snatch people from the fire. Like in the Book of Zechariah, "is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" And you can think ultimately that the fire is the fire of condemnation of eternity and hell, and to be plucked from that. And we're called on to rescue people from that who don't want to be rescued. As our text talks about, hey have been deceived. And so another image is in my mind, I was reading recently about a disease that affects the body's central nervous system and the brain resulting in "hyperactive and excitable, erratic behavior, including insomnia, anxiety, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, excessive salivation, and an irrational fear of water." The website said once those symptoms have appeared in a human being, the disease is almost always fatal. Alright, imagine, though, you had a serum that was 100% effective for curing that disease, but it had to be administered by hypodermic injection and you had to do it. And the person's raving. They're dangerous to you, they don't want your help. How in the world are you going to administer, physically administer, that life-saving serum into their bloodstream. How can you do it? Love would call on you to make every effort that you could, even at great risk to yourself, as they have no appreciation for what you're doing at that time, but you hope later, when their mind clears, they will understand what you did, what you risked. But that's not even why you do it; it's so that they will be saved. Now, I could well imagine how offensive such an analogy would be to a person him or her self identify themselves in the LGBTQ community, does not want their orientation, their practices, to be seen as a disease, but as actually many of them something to be delighted in and celebrated as a positive, good thing. But we Christians, we know that all sin, all of the sins listed here, in 1 Corinthians 6, and all of the sins listed in Romans 1 and all the sin lists, whatever sin there may be, from the heavenly perspective, is sheer insanity. All of it. Fornication: Sheer insanity. Adultery: Sheer insanity. Swindling: Insanity, from a heavenly point of view. And not only that, all of us, apart from Christ, we're raving, too. We were all irrational in our sin. As Paul says in Titus 3:3-7, he says, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, we lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His own mercy…" and grace in Christ, by the power of the Spirit. Listen again to those words. At one time, we, too, were foolish. We were disobedient. We were deceived. We were out of our minds. And we were enslaved by all kinds of passions. All of us were like that before we were converted. Even the man who wrote these words in 1 Corinthian 6 was like that, the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, you remember his career, and how on the very morning of his conversion, he was seething with rage against Christ and against Christians, hated Christ, saw Him as a deceiver, hated Christians, one of them arrested and killed. Hours before he became a Christian. Praise God for sovereign Grace. Praise God that's happening all over the world. People's chains are falling off, and they are being delivered from their spiritual insanity and crossing over into life, eternal life in Christ. Praise God. That's my great hope as I preach to you today. The Apostle Paul was deceived and enslaved, he was raving, and God converted him. : So we have that defensive image of a walled fortress, that we have to contend for, we have to fight, and the offensive image of a rescue that we're called on to do a great personal cost. The two of them go together because the truth we are using to deliver enslaved souls is that which we have to fight for. We have to defend it. Human Sexuality is a Major Breach in the Wall Now let's return to the walled image, walled fortress image, for a minute. As I've said, human sexuality is a major breach in the wall. And in this section of 1 Corinthians, we can see that. Can't you see it? Just trace out, connect the dots. 1 Corinthians 5, the last chapter, the chapter on church discipline, was triggered by a man with a perverse sexual act. "A man has his father's wife. And you are proud!" Paul says. You should have expelled the wicked man from among you, 1 Corinthians 5. then in 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11. We have this list of sins: Fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals. Those four all have to do with sexuality. The next section we're going to in 1 Corinthians, Paul's going to make a direct and convicting appeal to some Corinthian members of the Corinthian church to stop frequenting temple prostitutes, saying, "You can't take the members of Christ and join them to a prostitute." And then in the next chapter, in 1 Corinthians 7, he's going to go through healthy sexuality in marriage, husbands and wives coming together. He's also going to address the gift of singleness, he's going to talk about divorce and other topics in 1 Corinthian 7. So we're in a section steeped with this, showing how weakness area really is, how much special attention we need to give to it. And so we come for the third time to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The first time I preached on this I did it in conjunction with the lawsuits passage because that's how it fits into the flow, and I think the last sin that he mentions, "swindlers" do not inherit the kingdom of God. That was kind of the point of him giving the list. But then we focused last week on the list as a whole and said people of that pattern do not inherit the kingdom of God, and the effeminate and homosexual was listed, but it seemed reasonable for me to zero in on the issue this morning. The end of this deception will be eternal condemnation for some precious souls. The church must tell the truth about the sin of homosexuality. We must be honest and not be intimidated. It's going to require more courage than on any other topic that we are likely to face in our day and age. We have, in the Gospel of Christ, the healing serum. It's 100% effective. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. We have to tell the truth. In the name of Christ, we have to tell the truth. In the name of Christ, and for the value of the souls we're trying to deliver, even though they hate us, initially we have to tell the truth. Homosexuality at the Epicenter of the “Culture War” Now, homosexuality, this particular topic, is at the epicenter of what many call the culture war. Over the last half century, major clashes have centered around this issue. I could list example after example of how this issue has been a central current event. I don't have to delineate that, I don't think. If you've been living in the West at all, you know how much of an issue this is. So, recent current events you are, I'm sure aware, of the Methodist church meeting together, the denomination, meeting together in St. Louis last week to iron out some key issues on this very topic concerning, number one, would they perform and recognize gay marriages, and even more importantly, would they ordain LGBTQ people to the ministry. And they met in St. Louis, and in a shocking development, conservative bishops, Methodist bishops from Africa, said, "We are not going along with the liberal church in the West in America, and turning our back on 2,000 years of biblical teaching. You have not made sufficient arguments. We are not yielding this. Not at all," and they won the vote and all that. But I was going to Parker and Otis just about a mile from here this week, drove by the Methodist Church, there on West Chapel Hill Street, just a mile from here, decked out in rainbow ribbons everywhere. An angry statement of solidarity with the LGBTQ themes. So, this is not a surprise to us, we're not shocked to see it. I was a little bit shocked to see the rainbow flags up in almost every congregational church up in New England, where I'm from, including Jonathan Edwards' church in Northampton. So, churches can decay on doctrinal issues. This is... Major indoctrination is going on for our young people's minds and hearts all over the place. The Durham County Library has all kinds of programs for LGBTQ teens just going on... It’s just part of their calendar. At Duke University, if you go into the Brian center, the student center there, if you go in one particular entrance, right at the right, there's a major rainbow banner there, and then the name of the office is the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Gender diversity. And so it's a major strategy. They have incoming freshman read books that indoctrinate people in the mindset, the faculty and staff that's doing hiring, they have to go through sensitivity training so that they can look in the mirror of their own biases, so that they can make hiring appropriate to where the institution's going. It's going on all the time. As a matter of fact, a year ago, the dean of the Duke Divinity School (this was in February 2018), was trying to give the state of the school address, you can look this up on YouTube, and the address was interrupted by LGBTQ demonstrators with bullhorns. Bullhorns. It was a relatively small room. But they did not want free speech on this; they just wanted to present their views. The Civil Rights Angle Now part of the intimidation that we Christians feel in this current climate is that LGBTQ activists have been strategic in linking opposition to gay rights to the opposition by racist of civil rights for African-Americans during the '60s and right up to the present day. They've linked the two, so it's becoming civil rights issue. What that means is if you oppose their views on this, you're seen to be the same as racist or a bigot. I think the fundamental concept that enables them to do that is they believe that this is a genetic thing, that homosexuality is genetic, similar to race. It's not a choice that you make. So as I said last week, I cannot be an ex-Caucasian, it's my race, it's an amoral descriptor of me, it doesn't mean anything, just how God wanted me to be. The same thing could be said of an African-American by an African-American person or an Oriental person, et cetera, any... The racial, amoral, racial designators. They say, "This is who I am, this is how God made me to be," but that's exactly what a homosexual would say. So that's how they make it a civil rights issue. So then therefore, they believe that they are taking the moral high ground and we're down in the gutter of being hate mongers and bigots. Mainstream media has bought into this perspective sports. If you were to say something, even in the heat of battle, in the middle of a game, you were to say something, and it got heard, you're going to be... If you're on a sports team, you're going to be making an apology before a press conference within the next 36 hours, probably, if you want to keep playing. And so because of this linking with civil rights, they say it's actually immoral, immoral, to oppose homosexuality. I think that may be the clearest example in our culture of what Isaiah warned about in Isaiah 5:20, he says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." The switching of morality is what's going on before our very eyes. Along with this is the not-so-subtle accusation that Christians are mentally ill. That actually we have a form of psychosis known as homophobia. Just like any other phobia, like irrational fear of spiders, irrational fear of high places, or crowded rooms, or small spaces. We are called "homophobes" because there's a deep-seated, irrational fear of homosexuality or of homosexuals. And if you proclaim the doctrine I'm about to proclaim from the Word of God, that homosexuality is a sin, and that if you are not transformed out of it, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God but that the Gospel of Christ is the power to transform sinners and to give you hope of eternal life, if you were to say any of that, that's hate speech, really, flowing from a deep-seated insecurity and fear of psychosis that the speaker has. Now Christians, you know that history of this have been pounded in our culture for doing precisely that, standing up to billable convictions. You remember the baker in Colorado Jack Phillips who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission then said, "If you will not bake cakes for same sex weddings, you can't bake cakes for weddings at all." And that's 40% of his business, he had to let go a lot of his people. He took the case all the way to Supreme Court and won a very narrowly-defined victory, just because of how this Colorado Civil Rights Commission treated him. They left unanswered the future question of whether Christian bakers would be forced to violate their conscience and make cakes, et cetera. This goes on and on, there are so many examples. Louie Giglio was chosen by Barack Obama to do the commencement prayer at his second inaugural and then was dropped when a sermon like the one I'm giving right now was found in his record as a homophobic sermon, it was called. So he has dropped. I know this from personal conversations, Christians working at secular universities like Appalachian State University, for example, if you try to be a Christian and hold your Christian convictions, you're going to be required to go to sensitivity training and to read certain books and be trained how to deal properly with members of that community. So this is the climate we're in. I could say many other things, but you get the idea, and you probably didn't need any of this. This is the climate in which we have to stand firm and tell the truth, and why? As with everything else, for the glory of God, and the salvation of elect people who are not yet converted. That's why. That's why. That's what God's calling on us to do and to be. So we have to go back to the truth. II. Biblical Truth on Homosexuality What does the Bible say about this? This morning, as we're driving in, I was listening to a Christian song, The Great I Am, and there was something that just really spoke to me. Maybe I needed to hear it this morning, but the line of the song says, "We fear our enemies," speaking to God, "we fear our enemies, they are Your footstool." God is not intimidated at all at bullhorns, or by raging nations, or by anything. The nations are a drop in the bucket to God. He never changes, He always tells the truth, He knows what the truth is, He knows who the Savior is, He knows what the gospel is, He knows what sin is, He's never going to change. And we get strength as we draw near to that throne of grace. As we drink in the truth, we get the kind of confidence and courage we will need to tell the truth. So what does the Bible say about homosexuality? Well, the simple truth is homosexuality is a soul-killing sin. It's spiritual poison, just like all the other sins in that list and the other lists. It says in Leviticus 18:22, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Many other verses teach this and I'll cite some of them in a moment. Now, homosexuality is exactly like any other sin in two very important ways and it's different than other sins in two very important ways. How Homosexuality is Like Any Other Sin Alright, how is homosexuality like any other sin? In what two ways? First, as I said, it's a soul-killing sin, and if you're not transformed out of it, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God, which means you would spend eternity in condemnation and hell, in the lake of fire, and eternity because of sins just like that one. Paul lists homosexuality along with the other sins. Look again at our text, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." Now for our purpose this morning are the two key terms "effeminate" and "homosexuals." I mentioned in the last time, a few of you are confused because you held in your hand the ESV. I find it strange the ESV melts the five sins listed separated by the Greek word οὔτε into four. I don't think there was an intentional doctrinal decision here, but it was not helpful. The word for Greek for effeminate, μαλακοὶ,"means soft ones as Robert Gagnon, has shown, those that take on an external manner in dress and affect to play the feminine role in a homosexual relationship. That's what μαλακοὶ means. Homosexuals translated, ἀρσενοκοῖται, is males who lie with males. That's what that means. And so that's why we're zeroing in on this morning. Now just like any other sin, the other sins in the list, such as fornication, idolatry, adultery, drunkenness, stealing, like the other sins in this list, it has the power to condemn souls to hell. But secondly, just like any other sin in this list, it is absolutely addressed and atoned for and transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no sin pattern that Christ cannot save us out of and transform our minds. So look again at these beautiful words: "You were washed" Oh, Corinthians, your guilty conscience was cleansed by the blood of Christ, and you don't feel guilty anymore, you were washed. And your mind is washed from filthy thoughts and from wicked lust, washed. And "sanctified," set apart unto God, as His prized, holy possession, set apart. And sanctified, gradually, little by little, transformed until you're more and more conformed to Christ. Sanctification. And then last in the list but first in our experience is justification. That's the beginning of the Christian life. You are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you have faith and you are declared not guilty of all your sins. All of those acts of wickedness that that list generated: Fornication, idolatry, stealing, drunkenness, all those times, all that that sin cost you and people around you, it's all been forgiven. Forgiven. Your 10,000-talent debt was paid in full. "Justified." And how? "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," the one who died on the cross to pay the penalty for all those wicked acts. And in the spirit of our God, we owe our salvation as much to the transforming work of the Spirit as we do to Jesus who shed His blood. They work together to save souls. And so, like any of those sins, "such were some of you," means you can be a former homosexual, formerly effeminate, you could be a former fornicator, you can be a former adulterer, a former thief, a former swindler, a former blaspheme. "Such were some of you." Jesus Christ can set you free from sins. So I needed to just stop right here and proclaim the gospel clearly. If you are included in that group I prayed for and you came in here an unbeliever of any type, but for the topic this morning, you're struggling with this sin of homosexuality, Jesus Christ and Christ alone can set you free. Christ alone can give you forgiveness. Christ alone can save your soul. Christ alone can give you the inheritance that Paul says would be deprived of you if you're not transformed: The kingdom of God. So come to Christ. Just trust in Him to save you. How Homosexuality is Not Like Other Sins So, as I said, in these two key ways, homosexuality is the same as any other sin, but in two ways, it's different. First, we've already seen, as I've listed. It's receiving different treatment than the other sins in this list from Satan and from the powers that be, from the world. We are being brainwashed. You talk about the boiling of the frog. This has been going on for half a century. American culture, Western culture, has been... The frog's been boiled on this little by little by little by little, hotter and hotter and hotter until we're just kind of accepting things that were shocking when the whole process began. It's receiving special treatment. No other sin listed here has Pride days and parades connected to it. You don't see fornicators' Pride Day at Disney World, or drunkard Pride Day at Disney World or in cities all across our land. You don't see thief Pride Day. But you do see this. So it's different in that regard. And so we're going to have to show a certain kind of courage on this topic that you don't have to in the others. Secondly, it's different and where it's mentioned and how it's mentioned by the Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 1. So listen to what Paul says in Romans 1. Romans 1 is the clearest, most organized, systematic unfolding of the Gospel in the Bible. It's a book unlike any other book: It shines more brightly with the glory of God and the truth of the Gospel than any of the book in the Bible. In Romans chapter 1, Paul is unfolding the Gospel, he says "The power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, for in the Gospel, the righteousness from God is revealed from faith to faith, the righteous will live by faith." And then he says why we need it: Because the wrath of God is being revealed. And then He zeroes in on two sins in particular. There are special sins that receive special treatment from Paul. And the first is idolatry, and the second is homosexuality. They are... There's a special focus. And in that section, Paul gives us what's known as natural theology, theology based on nature. So we can see from nature, from creation, that there is a wise, powerful, loving God who made it all. And you have to suppress the truth and unrighteousness to deny that, to worship and serve created things. That's idolatry. But then he zeros in on homosexuality, these are his words, in Romans 1: 26-27. He says, "For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchange," listen to this, "the natural function for that which is unnatural." Women exchanged natural function for that which is not natural. And in the same way is that "the men abandoned natural function with women and burned in their desire toward one another with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error." Paul is arguing from nature here. It is... It should be obvious to us from nature that God did not intend homosexuality, that's the way he's arguing. And so God gave sex within the context of marriage, as we'll talk more about in 1 Corinthians 7, for many purposes, but one of them is procreation and biology tells us it's a male and a female coming together to fill the Earth, be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. So it takes a special kind of hardness and strength of character against the clear purposes of God to be a homosexual. So in that way, homosexuality is just like any other sin in two key ways, and it's different in two key ways. III. Ministering the Gospel of Grace to LGBTQ People So how then can we minister the gospel of grace to LGBTQ people? So, we have to begin by addressing I think here the topic of same-sex attraction, SSA, so called, it's a relatively new concept, it's something that we have to deal with. And then it comes from testimonies, experiential testimonies of people, even people who are converted. They would say, "such were some of you" applies to me, but they say, "I struggle with these desires long before I admitted them to myself, or when I was first becoming a sexually-aware being. This was something it was part of my make-up from the start." Now, this is somewhat controversial, obviously, because you can say, "How could you say 'such were some of you,' if there's lasting same-sex attraction?" So we'll circle back to that in a minute. Behind that, of course, is the genetic basis: Is there such a thing as a gay gene? Lots of debate on this. I personally, I'm not a biologist or a biological researcher or a genetic researcher, but I know enough about the scientific methodology to say how very difficult it would be to extract this behavior pattern from nurture and from experiences and from things that happen to individuals and zero down on a physiological aspect. I don't know how you do that. They're studying brains, they're studying genes, et cetera. How do you do that, and what kind of people are going to be the focus of your study? What questions will you ask to filter them? It's just... I don't know how it could be done, but I know why it's done. And so let me say this directly: Even if there were a physiological basis, that does not excuse sin. We may have a physiological basis toward heterosexual sin, it doesn't excuse us. I may have a physiological basis toward drunkenness, doesn't excuse the sin. You may have a physiological basis toward fits of rage that lead to all kinds of bad outcomes. Doesn't excuse us. And so, we just have to punt on that one and say, "Look, I don't think we can ever prove it," but I'm telling you this, the statement, "such were some of you" settles it for me, doctrinally. You can, and not only can, but must, become an ex-homosexual in order to inherit the Kingdom of God. That's the clear teaching of this text. And if you can, then that says a lot to me about essential nature. The Complexity of the Human Heart So now let's talk about the complexity of the human heart. And here, I want to lean on a book that I want to come in to you not completely, but there's some helpful things in it, by authors named Barr and Citlau, entitled Compassion Without Compromise. And they zero in on four aspects of the human heart and the human life: Desire, orientation, identity, and behavior. So, starting with desire, that's what your heart loves and hates, what you're attracted to or repulsed from. Secondly, orientation, a dominant tendency or drive, consistent attractions and repulsions, that tend to dominate the mind. Thirdly, sexual identity, a subjective sense of identity by which an individual answers the question, "Who am I?" And more specifically, "who am I sexually?", identity. And then fourth, behavior, those are actual actions taken based on the first three. Now, I believe, as a minister of the Gospel, no one can change his or her heart. We don't have that kind of power. We don't have the ability to perform spiritual heart surgery on ourselves. But God does. Praise God He does. And so He says in Ezekiel 11:19, "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them, and I will remove from them their heart of stone and I will give them a heart of flesh." God does that to everyone He converts. And He can do that to homosexuals, too. He can give them a new spirit and move them to obey God's laws, a new heart to love God's laws. He has the power to do that. And that's the clear link with "such were some of you." In other words, you Corinthians who would say, "Yes, that's true of me," it wasn't all of them, "such were some of you," but you Corinthians who characterize, you're now in Christ, you can testify to the transforming power of Christ in your life. You're no longer effeminate. You're no longer lying with other men. The life has changed, praise God. Transformed Hearts Lead to Transformed Lives Now, all of this comes by the ministry of the Word. Transformed hearts lead to transformed lives. As Paul says in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." This is my ongoing commitment of ministry here to Christians, is the ministry of the Word of God for the purpose of the transformation of all of our hearts, leading to new patterns of behavior. That's what sanctification is all about. So, conversion and salvation, let's take those same categories and work from the outside back in. First, behavior. If you come to Christ, that requires an immediate change of sexual behavior. If you don't change that behavior, you have not become a Christian. That's what "Do not be deceived" means, if that just continues on. Do not deceive yourself, you're not a Christian yet, and you're still under the wrath of God. Now, along with the outer behaviors, there are lesser clearer things that perhaps an effeminate person or some other person put on, they have to unlearn and it might take a while. They're not moral issues you have to address or mannerisms or things like that, and they little by little are transformed in those areas. But it may take time. Secondly, sexual identity, answering the question, "Who am I?" Secular psychologists counseling these individuals say, "You will do psychological harm to yourself if you lie to yourself and don't tell yourself the truth about your sexual identity." "I am a homosexual." We Christians say, "That's a lie, a satanic lie." Imagine a patient on an IV drip, and some member of the medical community comes in and put some fluid in the drip, and the person's dead five minutes later. I would say that person's probably a murderer. I want to know what happened, especially if they were stable and doing fine. That's what bad advice can do to people's souls. We want to say that when you come to Christ, you have a new answer to that question." You asked me who I am. I am a Christian. I am a sinner saved by grace. I am guaranteed of going to Heaven, I am a slave to God and the righteousness and to His laws, not to sin. And so it says in Romans 6:11, "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus," you have a whole new way of thinking about yourself. Thirdly, orientation. This just has to do with mental habitual patterns and directions in your life. This is the very thing that must be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Mind control is very much the issue of sanctification for all of us Christians. Brothers and sisters, you have to control your minds. You have to control your thought lives. And Paul makes this very clear in Romans 8. He says, "The mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace." Those controlled by the flesh are hostile to God. "The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so." Now Paul doesn't mention homosexuality there but he would include it. That's evidence of the mind of the flesh. So the newly transformed former homosexual has to control his or her thought life, just like all of us do. All of us. And then finally, desires. This attraction, this desire, is what some would call, if they're illicit, lusts. I want to commend to you the same strategy we all have to face for illicit lusts. All of us have them. I was talking to the elders not just about SSA, same-sex attraction, but NSA, non-spouse attraction. It's a sin, too, friends, and Jesus said, you're guilty of adultery even if you do it in your heart. And so we have to fight our lust, all of us do. So how do you do it? Well, I'm going to commend to you the strategy of death by starvation. Starve it to death. The lust you feed gets stronger, the lust you deny get weaker. And so, scriptural back up for that is Romans 6:6. "We know that our old self, [our old identity] was crucified with Christ, dead so that the body of sin, [that is your actual brain and physical body, body of sin as it's trained habitually toward sin] might be done away with," or be progressively rendered weaker, or brought to nothing. The idea is that the body of sin is progressively rendered weaker so that we should no longer be slaves to sin. That is a key verse on mortification, on putting sin to death, negative sanctification. All of us have to do it, not just ex-homosexuals. So, therefore, warfare against sin is essential for all of us Christians, including former homosexuals. Paul says in Romans 8:13-14, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God [and I would add in my mind, these and these only] are the sons of God." Only those that are putting sin to death by the Spirit are children of God. Everyone else is deceived. So we have to be warring against our lust and against the sexual sins that assault us. John Owen on the topic of mortification of the flesh said this: "The vigor, power, and comfort of our spiritual life depend on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh." You must mortify. You must make it your daily work, you must be constantly at it while you live. Cease not a day from this work, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Refuting Some Recent Emphases Now I want to address some recent emphases by I think generally good evangelical ministries concerning this topic of homosexuality. There have been books, there are speakers, there are others that I think are generally preaching the Gospel, but there are some concerns I have. And it centers on a seeming message that you can continue to be same-sex attracted, whatever that means, as long as you're celibate. So four things. Number one, God cares about the heart as well as the actions and the lifestyle. It is possible to stop sinning with the body but to continue sinning with the mind and with the heart, and it's sin. And as I just said you have to put those mental sins to death. Secondly, It is not required that an ex-homosexual have strong heterosexual feelings. That's not required. They don't have to become an ardent heterosexual. I actually think that this is the essence of the gift of singleness. There's people who have never been tempted sexually very much at all. For them, it really isn't a weakness, and they are able to not burn, we'll talk about that in 1 Corinthians 7, not burn but just live daily life without being overly concerned in this area, they're set free from it, it's a gift. And some former homosexuals end up with that gift rather than a spouse. And that's totally fine. Thirdly, however, there are others that God gives them entirely new desires, and they're so radically transformed in this area that they end up marrying heterosexually and have godly spouses and have a wonderful marriage and children, and they are completely healed marvelously. And fourth, on the issue of ongoing struggles, it makes sense that where you have sinned before in an area, especially habitually, you'll have to watch that area carefully the rest of your life in ways that other people don't. So if you used to be a drunkard, you have to be really careful at places where alcohol is served, where I don't, I've never struggled with that sin. But they do. Same thing with heterosexual sins. Fornication, other things. If that's what you've done, you're going to have to put special guards on that wall of the fortress to be careful the rest of your life. I wouldn't call you at that point same-sex attracted, but you just have habits and eternal vigilance is the price of freedom for you. IV. Practical Examples of Grace-Filled Ministry Alright, finally, how can we minister grace practically. Barr and Citlau in Compassion Without Compromise give us some practical things. I'm not going to walk through all these things, but if you get in a conversation with somebody, there's nothing wrong with making an argument. I've been making arguments for the last half hour plus. Make an argument, but don't have an argument. Don't have an argument. It says in Colossians 4:6, "Let your conversation be filled with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." So, be gracious, but put the truth out there. Put a rock in their shoe. Give them some things from scripture, some things to think about. Have the right mindset. Don't try to win the chess battle. Ask questions. Say, "Why do you care so much about this topic? Why is this meaningful for you? You seem to have a strong passion about this. Tell me about that." Defuse it by asking questions, get in a conversation. Speak your convictions clearly. Say what you really believe and why. Make certain that you quote the scripture. Don't just give your own opinion. Scripture has converting power. Pay attention to the context. Where are you? If you're on an elevator and you're going six floors, don't get into this topic. Alright? You don't have time. Barr and Citlau in their book Compassion Without Compromise, it says like we know not to yell in a library. They're not talking about having this conversation in the library, be sure you whisper; they're saying know the context. Where are you? Are you at work? Do you have time for a long conversation with the context of your relationship? Where is that person coming from? Who are you talking to? What is their perspective on this? Are they a homosexual activist? Do they have a friend who is or a brother a sister who is? Maybe it's a father of a lesbian daughter and he's maybe defending her practice because that's where he's at. Who is he? Control the thermostat of the conversation. Don't let it get too heated. And don't expect them to agree with you every time. Paul was in prison when he wrote most of his epistles, he knew people don't always agree. And pray, you can't change the heart. I planted a seed and Paul is water, but God made it grow. You can't change someone's heart on this. What about certain scenarios that you might have? Like let's say you work for a bank that's celebrating diversity week, and your supervisor is lesbian, you've been witnessing to her, et cetera, and she comes and she wants everyone in the department to put on a celebrate diversity magnet, rainbow magnet, on the door. What should you do? Well, the book suggests, and I think this is good advice, don't put up the rainbow magnet. Whatever positive connections you make, you'll be absolutely sending the wrong signal and you may never undo the damage. What they say in the book is that flag represents a flag of rebellion against the Kingdom of God. How can you fly it? What if they say "Why?", don't explain why. Again, the context, you're not going to win that debate. Say, "I just don't align with that particular cause." This is on work hours now, keep that in mind. If someone forces you for further explanation, say, "look, I value our friendship. I respect your right to maintain your opinions. I ask that you extend the same right to me." But at the same time, you're looking and praying for opportunities to talk to individuals at different times about this very topic. What if you get invited to a homosexual wedding? What should you do? We're going to face this again and again and again, it's going to happen more and more. And what the book recommends is it's a decision you have to make. Don't judge other people by what they do, But when it comes to weddings, specifically weddings, they are there to celebrate the union. How can you be there to celebrate it? So you're going to, at some point, have to cross this close relationship and you have to maintain the close relationship in other ways. Show love in other ways. They've got like 20 examples of practical ministry that we can and should do, and I would recommend the book Compassion Without Compromise to walk through it. As I finish today, I just want to say this: In Heaven, the phrase and the theology behind it, "such were some of you" is going to be consummated. We are going to celebrate God's grace in transforming all of us. We're going to be surrounded by people who have been transformed by God's grace from false religions and cults and atheism and addictions and homosexuality and sexual sin, like fornication, heterosexual sexual sin, and we're going to be surrounded and that'll include us. And we're going to be there and the only reason we'll have any consciousness or awareness of our past lives is so that we can knowledgeably give grace and glory to God for the grace He showed to us. And when we meet sinners in Heaven, we're not going to meet the Apostle Paul saying, "Oh, Paul, you're the blasphemer, persecutor, violent man, right?" And he says, "You know, I actually planted some churches, too, along the way." We're not going to be wearing the scarlet letter of what we were, but we're going to be wearing white robes washed in the blood of Christ. Close with me in prayer. Father, thank You for the time we've had to study today this challenging the topic. Father, I pray that You would give us grace and courage and wisdom and especially love to people who are enslaved and wrapped up with chains they cannot see. Set them free through the Gospel, Lord. And God, it would be so sweet for members of our church to be there when that freedom happens. And so I pray there would be actually people who are set free by members of our church and brought to genuine faith in Christ who will be baptized here and will give clear testimony. "I lived like this, and I met so-and-so from your church and now I'm here to testify to the saving work of Jesus Christ." In Your name, I pray this, amen.
Nothing New Under the Sun Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. We Christians live in an extremely distressing time in our nation, in our world, when it seems like wickedness is waxing stronger and stronger, and the church of Jesus Christ seems to be getting weaker and weaker all the time. Like we're living spiritually in a time of the plague, the Black Death that swept across the continent of Europe and took out in some communities up to a third of the population. In the same way, it seems like morality in our popular culture is contagious and the church itself has caught the disease. We see the signs everywhere, and it's rightly a cause for deep concern and relentless vigilance on our part. But we should not suppose that any of these things are new, as though we're the first generation of Christ people that has had to face the kind of wickedness and immorality, that is assaulting us. As we come this morning to this text, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, we are stabbed broad awake by its fierce words and it's severe warning: The wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God! And then we read carefully the sin patterns that Paul delineates here, fornication, idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, robbery, greed, drunkenness, reviling, swindling, and we realize we could have taken this list off the news feeds that our smart phones report in the 21st century. We realize there's nothing new under the sun. Satan has been enslaving human souls with the sin patterns in every generation. Our technological prowess through centuries of remarkable scientific achievement and progress has not changed our basic nature at all. Underneath all of it, the sinner who stands transfixed by his smartphone, is at core the exact same person that stood outside the pagan temples of Corinth ready to go in one more time. And when our spiritual father, the Apostle Paul, is warning us I think with tears that we will not inherit the Kingdom of God, if we're not transformed from those sins by the power of the Gospel of Christ, and by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we must be roused by those words that seem to kill but actually bring life. I've been spending a lot of time in scripture memorization in the Book of Hosea and it has been powerful for me. And at one point, God says through the prophet, "Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth. My judgments flash like lightning upon you." It is God who wounds that He may heal. It is God who kills that He may bring to life, and He does all of that through words, the words of scripture. It is the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from sins that will sink us to hell. And He strikes us now with words, He swings the sword that comes from His mouth, the double-edged sword, sharp and gleaming, to kill us in our sin that He may bring us to life in His holiness. Paul's warning here contains the genuine work of the gospel, it is basically this; when God rescues people from Satan's dark dominion, He does it by transforming their hearts from within, by the power of the Holy Spirit, causing them to love righteousness and hate wickedness. From this transform heart, comes a transformed life. If that transformed heart as signaled by a changed life, doesn't happen, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Now a church that doesn't understand this truth and embrace this truth and live out this truth and proclaim this truth to the enslaved sinners that surround us in the community in which we live is no church at all. It's salt has lost it's saltiness and it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by people. But a church that understands and lives out and proclaims boldly the transforming truth of the gospel as I've described it here, now that is a true church. And Paul says here, and we're going to walk through this, "Do not be deceived..." And he lists a whole set of sins that people must repent from, including fornication and greed. These are soul-killing sins but he also lists homosexuality, effeminacy. Hope for Sinners: "Such were some of you…" And he gives hope to all sinners of these various categories and all sinners in categories not listed here, for he says, "Such were some of you..." Now there are other categories of sins but all sin kills the soul. And he gives hope to us through the Gospel. By saying, "Such were some of you," you can be an ex-fornicator, you can be an ex-adulterer, you can be an ex-thief, you can be an ex-drunkard, you can be an ex-blasphemer, you can be an ex-swindler, and yes you can be an ex-homosexual. Now I had thought to address homosexuality within the context of this general list, but there isn't time in one sermon, because I want to do justice to the whole text and all the sins that are listed here, so I've decided to address the special problems of homosexuality next week. And we need special help in this area, because unlike most of the sins on this list, it's under special attack by Satan and therefore requires special attention. But I've already spoke cultural Heresy this morning when I say ex-homosexual. To some people that'd be like, for me, becoming an ex-Caucasian. It doesn't make any sense to them, but I want to speak the truth that comes from this text, that say you can be an ex-homosexual. And you can be an ex-fornicator and you can be an ex-adulterer, and all of the sins that you committed in those patterns can be completely forgiven by the blood of Christ, as the text clearly says. So may God grant us as a church, the grace to see this passage, these words straight on and honestly as they were given to us by the Holy Spirit. May God grant us the grace to accept this message no matter how much it marginalizes us in Durham, and it will. And in our world. May God grant us the courage to speak the truth first to ourselves to be honest about our own lives, our own sins, to be honest and humble, and then honestly help those that are drowning in sin around us, with the only thing that can save them and that's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Last night, I got an image that came in my mind, I've beta tested it with a few friends, I hope it works, but I'm going to go ahead and share it with you now. It's an image that I think fits this text. And it comes from the days when the gospel is beginning to spread in China through Hudson Taylor and others. During a time in which opium addiction was a massive problem in the Orient, and there were opium dens where addicts would go and lay down on beds and smoke the drug or take the drug in and this was their life. And so I want to establish that picture in your mind of Satan's dark kingdom like that, and you walk in and there are labels over different rooms, and the fornicators can lie down in beds and get IV drips of opium there and drink in that poison. And the adulterers can go over in this room and they can lie down and they can drink in that poison and the homosexuals can go in that room and they can lay down and drink in that poison, and the thieves can drink in that, and the covetous idolaters can drink in that poison and the blasphemous can drink in that, and there are other labeled rooms. And it's as though God having roused us up from a bed of sin addiction, and we still have the effects of the drug, but we in our bloodstream, spiritually, but we can see where this is all heading. And we are called on to rouse dying sinners up off their beds of sin and get them out of that place, because if they don't they will die and that eternally. So it doesn't matter that much what room you're in, drinking in the poison of sin, the sin will kill you. Now, there are some distinctions and differences and we need to deal with that. And as I said, I'm going to address that more clearly next week. So let's walk through this text now and see what the Lord would say to us. I. Paul’s Warning: Do Not Be Deceived Paul begins with a warning, "Do not be deceived." Look at verse nine. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived." So this is a warning against deception. Paul is urgently seeking to cut through the danger of satanic deception on these matters. Jesus said in John 8:44, "He [he devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies." You must put the two images together, he is a murderer by his lies. He kills souls by his lies. You have to put the images together. Sin also in the New Testament is personified. It's given a conscious identity. And it's perceived or it's presented as a deceiver, that sin is a deceiver. So in Hebrews 3:13, "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hardened by sin's deceitfulness. That means progressively changed in your hearts to become more and more rebellious against God. Hardened means less yielded, less submissive. Less sensitive to the issues, like a calloused hand that can't feel pain anymore. Sin deceives us into that hardened state. It's deceitful like it's father the Devil. Sin lies to us, it promises us pleasure, it promises us happiness, it promises us success and prosperity, but it actually is assassinating our souls. It means to take from us everything we value in life, to make our body's sick, to make our minds racked with sorrow and anguish and anxiety. Sin means to plunder our resources and leave us penniless and suicidal. Sin approaches us in disguise. It never tells us the truth about the journey it intends to take us on. Sin deceives. And worst of all, here is the danger of being self-deceived. We can actually lie to ourselves, we have the ability to make excuses for behaviors and attitudes that the Bible clearly condemns. We can say things to ourselves like, "It's not so bad," Or, "I only did it once." Or, "I can stop any time I want." Or, "No one really cares anyway," or "Everyone's doing it," Or, "God loves me no matter what I do. God understands me. He understands my weaknesses." We can lie to ourselves like that. This is the basic deception that Paul seeking to address. I can be a Christian and still live in these sins. Matthew Henry said this, "Men are very much inclined to flatter themselves that God is just like me. And that they may live in sin and yet die in Christ. That they may live the life of the devil's children and yet go to heaven with the children of God. But this is all a gross cheat." The Context of the Warning Well. The immediate context here, we saw it begin to see it last week as I preached on 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, and extended last week sermon to include these three verses, but touched on them only lightly. The context Paul has been addressing lawsuits among believers. You remember how we had brother A and brother B. And that seems like brother B swindled or cheated Brother A in business out of some money, brother A was incensed and took brother B to court before the pagans, thus airing the church's dirty laundry, in front of people they were supposed to be winning to Christ. Paul basically hammers on Brother A the plaintiff, the wronged one, for doing this, for most of those verses. Culminating in verse seven, "The very fact that you have lawsuits among you, means you've been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?" Than to take this brother to court in front of the pagans. But here in this text, as I mentioned last week, he gives an even more severe warning to the swindler, to the cheat. The one who swindled his brother for money. He lists very grievous sin patterns, many of them as we've already seen, that cannot be practiced by people who hope to go to heaven when they die. And the final one on the list was swindling. And he's saying you may get away with it, you may get a better lawyer than brother A and you may win your case and you may keep the money, but your soul is in danger of hell. That's the context, that's what he's saying. So the issue there was swindling. II. Paul’s Doctrine: Only Transformed Sinners Inherit the Kingdom Now, Paul's doctrine here is this, only transformed sinners inherit the Kingdom of God. Look at verse 9, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God?" This is a very strong assertion. And then he repeats it, "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 swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God." It's one of the translations of the list. He says, "Do you not know that the people who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God?" So he begins with what they know. It all comes down to doctrine, doctrine primes the pump for everything in the Christian life. Comes down to the knowledge that the faithful teaching of the Word of God can give. Do you not know? What we know then must drive how we live. Knowledge feeds faith, Knowledge plus faith transforms the heart, and out of that transformed heart must come an obedient life of good works. That's Christianity, and it all starts with the knowledge of the Word of God. You can't live what you don't know. So he starts there, "Do you not know this?" And he seems to be going back to his pattern of teaching when he was with them in Corinth in Acts 18, where his usual pattern was to settle into a city for a while, maybe a couple of years and teach them faithfully the Word of God, and he's just reminding them of the things that he had instructed them. The Corinthians when he arrived there, were enmeshed in patterns of pagan wickedness. And he was with them in weakness and fear and much trembling, and he resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified and he preached the gospel to them, and his preaching was a display of the power of God because God blessed his faithful preaching of the word with the planning of a church. People were converted, they were transformed. Now those Corinthians had been visiting pagan temples and sacrificing to the pagan deities, by having sex with temple prostitutes both male and female. There's no doubt that Paul called them to repent from their lives of sin and to believe in Christ for the salvation of their souls. A culture of repentance is essential to the true preaching of the gospel. Jesus, in Mark 1:15 said, "The time is at hand and the Kingdom of God is near, repent, and believe the gospel." So they're coupled together in mark 1. And so also the Apostle Paul, everywhere he went, he preached repentance and faith in Christ. So in Acts 14:15, he says to pagans in that city. We are bringing you good news, the gospel, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth the sea and everything in them, turn from these wordless things to God. That's repentance. What is the Kingdom of God? And he says, "Do you not know the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God." Now, what does that mean? Or What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the realm where God is the king. And he rules actively over people who are delighted to have Him as their king, that's what the Bible means by Kingdom of God, it's not referring to his bare providential control over rebels. He does that, but that's not the kingdom of God. People can enter the kingdom of God, tax collectors and prostitutes Jesus said, We're entering the Kingdom of God ahead of the Pharisees. So to enter it means to come under with delight the rule of God the King, that's what it means, the Kingdom of God. But here it has more of an end time or eternal meaning, an eternal meaning, when it uses the language of inherit to be an heir of the kingdom, so that speaks of the future world, Jesus said in the Beatitudes, "blessed with the meek for they will [in the future] inherit the Earth." So this speaks of the future, it speaks of eternity. The new heaven and new earth. What Peter calls "the home of righteousness." The new Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven pure and beautiful like the bride for her husband. That new world that's coming, that's what he means here, when he says, inherit the Kingdom of God. That is a world with no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, and no more sin. We'll be set free forever from all of the sins that afflict us and trouble us. It's a world of Radiant Beauty. Where the glory of God and of Christ illuminates that world and makes it radiant and beautiful. It's a world so overwhelming with the brilliance of God that we could not handle it if we were not given resurrection bodies for flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. It's world filled with God, that's where we're going. So to inherit the Kingdom of God, means to be welcomed into that place and in some sense to become owners of it, through Christ, co-heirs with Christ. To inherit the Kingdom of God, means to be qualified for Heaven. As it says in Revelation 22:14-15, "blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." So to be washed and to be made pure and holy, so that you can enter that place. That's the exact teaching that Paul's giving here just in different language. Only if that happens to have your robes washed and made white will you enter heaven. And that happens when we truly believe in Jesus Christ, turning away from our good works, any works, just by simple faith in Christ, trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, by that way alone are we justified. Now, if that happens, if we're transformed then by the Spirit and begin to live that new life. Then we have the right to enter the kingdom of God. As the next verse, in Revelation 22 makes plain; outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolater and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Same teaching, outside they don't inherit the Kingdom of God. So when Paul says the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God, he means they will not go to heaven when they die. The wicked must be redeemed they must be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit to be fit for Heaven. Now, the danger here, if a person does not repent from these soul killing sins, they will hear these terrifying words in Matthew 25:41, from Jesus the judge, "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." There's only two destinations, there's only two outcomes. There's life and death, there's heaven and hell, that's all there is. And so if you do not inherit the kingdom of God, you'll be condemned to eternal conscious torment, that's the danger. And the most compassionate thing that we Christians can do to the unredeemed sinners around them is to tell them the truth. To warn people to flee from the wrath to come. All sin is deadly poison, to see someone drinking in that deadly poison and say nothing or even somehow celebrate the poison they're drinking is to be a partner in their spiritual suicide. When it comes to homosexuality and I'll say this more next week. We are under intense pressure to not tell this truth. And those who would say this to us think they're taking the moral high ground. But how is it loving for us to believe this and not say anything. We have to tell the truth, even if it costs us. And our demeanor, should be one of urgency and grief, as Paul says in Romans 9, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." We must put aside what the world thinks of us and tell the truth. Just as Christians and Islamic countries do. To tell the truth to their unsaved brothers, fathers, mothers, cousins. To tell them the truth that Islam is a satanic lie, Christianity is the truth, Jesus is the only Savior, He died on the cross, He Himself died in our place, He was raised from the dead. And that if you believe in Him, all your sins will be forgiven not by works but by faith and by grace. What price do our brothers and sisters have to pay in Muslim countries to tell that truth to their unsaved neighbors, and government workers, brothers and sisters, they pay a very high price and they're courageous and they do it. So must we in America tell the truth. Only transformed sinners inherit the Kingdom of God. III. The Representative Sin List Look at the representative sin list, and that's all it is, just representative. Sin has morphed and metastasized into so many different versions that this is not a complete list, Paul is not trying to make it a complete list, it's representative. Look what he says, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived? Neither the... I'm going to re-translate all these words, well I'll just read the translation I've been using, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes. Nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindler will inherit the Kingdom of God." So look at the list in detail, he begins with fornicators, pornoi in the Greek. Fornicators will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The way that this word has usually been understood, most commonly is unmarried people who have sexual relations with each other. It's so common in our culture today that people think of it as strange if a young man or a young woman speaks their pledge and their commitment to be virgins until marriage. It's mocked, mocked, seemed to be strange like a form of mental illness or something's wrong with you. But the Bible has a name for those that don't keep that commitment and the name is fornicators. And it doesn't really matter what the morality of the campus or the culture is, what matters is what will it look like on judgment day. What will Jesus say about it? That's what matters. Bible standard for sexual activity is simple and clear: One man, one woman in covenant marriage for life. That's it. Everything else is sin. I remember years ago, Elizabeth Elliot was asked to write a book on sex and the single Christian. She said it's going to be the shortest book in history, I accept the book contract. Not much work to do there. Now, there's a lot of work to help single Christians be holy and we'll get into more of that in 1 Corinthians 7. But fornicators do not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived. Secondly, idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who worship and served created things rather than the creator who's forever praised. Best definition of idolatry in the Bible, Romans chapter 1. We think Paul's first, meaning probably was of false religions, people who follow the pagan religions of Corinth, of Greece, of the Gentile world, and that's fair enough. And that would extend then to the false religions of our day, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the cults, they worship false gods. And if they continue to do that, if they're not transformed out of that, they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That's why we do missions. But in Colossians 3:5, Paul also says that Greed is idolatry. So in our day and age, the driven materialist, the Fortune 500 Executive who lives for money, or even the medical student who wants simply to be a doctor to make as much money as possible, or any kind of materialist who really truly is living for money and the things money can buy, is an idolater and if they're not transformed they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Adulterers will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Adultery is when one or both of the partners, sexual partners is married to someone else. Most people in our culture, I would say, still acknowledge that adultery is sin even though it's prevalent. I don't see any similar effort made like to homosexuality to get us to think differently. What can be done for it? It devastates people. The sense of betrayal is beyond calculation what adultery has done in our culture. A common place portrayed in movies and in songs and in the media generally though. The next word, and were going to talk more about the next two words much more next week. But the next word should be translated, the effeminate. The effeminate will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Robert Gagnon is a Bible scholar who's done excellent work on the topic of homosexuality, wrote a book called the Bible and homosexual practice, he spends a great deal of time on this verse and on the words here. And the word malacoi, the effeminate, he thinks should be translated effeminate males who play the sexual role of females. So the KJV has effeminate, and the KJV translators are really sharp and excellent at Greek. It's literally soft ones, that would be a home base for the word, so it would be males to dress like Women. Affect feminine behaviors, they were make-up long hair with jewelry like women to prepare themselves for the sexual role of a woman with another man. In our culture, we have seen these kinds of people portrayed very positively in the media for decades. Usually are sympathetic figures. Hollywood has been boiling the frog on this for years, getting us to accept homosexuality by delighting and these kinds of effeminate men. So also we can see them in certain settings in society, there's certain jobs that it seems that attract effeminate men, and they carry themselves plainly people don't wonder what's going on and, this for a very clear reason, they're sending out signals to other people that they want to be seen. Now the ultimate end of this approach is the massive confusion known as gender dysphoria, where people are actually challenging their birth gender, and think that gender is a matter of choice. Satan is laughing at the human race on this. The transgender movement. We'll talk more about these things next week. But the effeminate will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It's part of this list. The next one is Gagnon would translate it, males who take other males to bed. That's a simple kind of mechanical translation of malacoi. It's a term that Paul seems to have invented. No one else uses it, it's not used in Koine Greek, it's just Paul's. He made it up. But it comes from I think the Septuagint reading of two key texts in the Levitical code. Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13. Let me read 18:22. "Do not lie with a man, as one lies with a woman. That is detestable." The previous term had to do with the one who played the feminine role in a homosexual relationship. This term has to do with the masculine role in a homosexual relationship. How can we allow ourselves to be deceived in this issue? We have to just read the text and tell the truth, believe the truth, and tell the truth. To think that we're being unloving when we do that. You just have to throw that off and tell the truth. Many Christians have bought into this brainwashing by the secular media and the Hollywood elite that we are homophobic. We'll talk more about that term god willing next week, or unloving or vicious, or immoral even if we believe this doctrine. You have to cut through all that for the sake of key individuals, elect, unconverted-elect people who need to be rescued. Thieves will not inherit the Kingdom of God. No one in our culture as far as I can tell, is advocating overturning laws on property. Thieves are criminals, thieves are sinners. It's in the 10 Commandments. You shall not steal. No one's questioning this. But what he's saying is, This is your lifestyle this is what you do, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The greedy will not inherit the kingdom of God, covered that earlier in idolater, but those who live for material possessions, those who live for money, if that's what you're all about, you'll not inherit the kingdom of God. And here I must speak a clear warning about what's commonly known as the prosperity gospel in our day. The prosperity teachings that Jesus is a means to the end of health, wealth and success, defined as any pagan would. Jesus is a means to that end. And if you believe in Jesus so you can get money, then Jesus isn't your God, money is. Quoting Shai Linne. So that's it. Covetous people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God, people who are addicted to wine. We could extend it to drugs. People who are addicted to substances. This word may come as a shock to some people, many have come to think of alcoholism as a disease, no different than cancer. Paul listed here is a voluntary habit pattern that must be broken by the power of the Spirit. Revelers, blasphemers will not inherit the kingdom of God. These are people whose filthy mouths assault the ears of people around them. But specifically zeroing in on blasphemy, words spoken about the Father the Son and the Spirit. Jesus is without a doubt, the most blasphemed individual in history. And Jesus said all manner of sin and blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven. He is so gracious to do that, but that's what reveling is. And then, swindlers those who take advantage of other people through corrupt business practices. We've come full circle now on the whole list. I heard of a roofing company that was in one community, and got a widow's money, began the work on her roof by tearing her existing roof off, and then left town. With her house exposed to the elements, no trace in the community, all of the things led nowhere. They swindled her out of her money and probably others besides, people who live like that will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Now it's important for us to see the whole list. That's why I gave you the image of one opium den with different rooms. Satan doesn't really care which of these you die with, all of these sins can kill your soul. Now, I believe that there's a unique focus on homosexuality, and it has its own unique aspects. And we'll talk about how homosexuality is the same and different as other sins next week. But any of these sins can kill us and deprive us of the kingdom of God. IV. The Transforming Power of Jesus and the Spirit Now we come to the good news, the transforming power of Jesus and of the spirit. Look at verse 11 "and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God." Now here is the good news of the Gospel. Here is the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus, and by the Spirit, the Gospel has the power to transform the human heart. 2 Corinthian 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ he's a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come." When Christ comes to save you, He comes to save you completely, by the power of the Spirit, He can take out the heart of stone and give you the heart of flesh. You can see things differently, think about things differently, He can change your mind and make you a new person. Indeed this must happen, that's the point of the text or you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This is not one of many routes to Heaven, this is it, This must happen to you, you must be born again or you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So you can and must be, if any of these describe you, a former fornicator, a former idolater, a former Adulterer, formerly effeminate, formerly homosexual formerly a swindler or blasphemer or reveler. God has the power to change you. And you're going to spend eternity not that person. Praise the Lord. An eternity. Because it says such were some of you, that's what you used to be. But now, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The name of the Lord Jesus is central to this work, Jesus, who was born of the Virgin Mary, who is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the manger, grew up to be a holy man, who never sinned, who did amazing miracles, who fed the 5000, who walked on the water. Who could cure any disease and sickness among the people, raised Lazarus from the dead after 4 days. This Jesus came primarily to die on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sinners like you and me, His blood was shed under the wrath of God, He took all of this filth on Himself and died the just punishment that sinners deserved. And the name of Jesus is everything here. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. Where as Peter and John said, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men, by which we must be saved, Acts 4:12. So then Name of the Lord Jesus, his reputation, his achievements, his story, trust in that Jesus and you will be forgiven of all your sins. So also He mentions the Spirit of God, and the power behind the saving work of God, you were washed sanctified justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. They have equal billing here. If it weren't for the spirit Jesus would mean nothing to you, you wouldn't even know His name, you would never have even heard of Him. And if you're a Christian today you owe your salvation as much to the Spirit's working in you as Jesus working on the cross for you? They are equally vital. So you are washed. Isn't that a beautiful word? Cleansed from a guilty conscience, a brain that is washed now pure and free from dark wicked thought, washed our filthy mind, washed from dark thoughts, our body stained with sin, washed and made clean, even the garment stainless sin purified and made white by the blood of Christ, applied by the Spirit. We are sanctified. Set apart unto God as His holy possession, He owns you, He calls you His holy possession, and then progressively makes you more and more like Jesus, you were sanctified, you are being sanctified, you're going to be sanctified from now until the day you die or Jesus returns, He's going to be making you holy, if that's not going on. You weren't justified. You were washed, you were sanctified, and then He said you were justified. It's not the chronological order but all of these things happen to you. What that means is you are made righteous in God's sight. Declared righteous, you ex-fornicator, you ex-adulterer, you ex-idolater, you are justified, you are seen by God to be holy. And also practically you are forgiven for all of those sins, and reconciled to God. Now next time we're going to talk more about the issues connected with homosexuality, and the best way we can minister in this present cult climate. V. Applications Let me close with just some quick applications. Central application is come to Christ, I pray this morning that God would bring some people here who are lost, and that you would hear the gospel. You've heard the gospel, you've heard it this morning, and you've been urged by me, begged even to come to Christ. But now I say to you who... You do that years ago, now you're like the Corinthians getting this letter, reading a letter from Paul. So I want to say be warned. Read the list and be warned. If these habit patterns are characterizing your life, don't deceive yourself that you're a Christian, that's the point of the text. Be warned. Secondly, be amazed at Christ, be amazed that he would take this kind of sewage on himself on the cross, He who is holy, as holy as God the Father, He took this sewage on Himself, so you wouldn't have to bear it into eternity. So just be amazed at Jesus, and along with that be thankful to Him, thank Him for saving you. And be honest about yourself. Be honest, look at this list. No, it's not exhaustive, you say, you know, I may not have committed adultery, but Jesus said if I looked lustful at somebody I have committed adultery in my heart, my heart still is twisted it's still angled, I still sin in my heart, in my mind, so I just need to be honest. I am not there yet, I want to be holy, I want to be pure. Be honest and be humble toward unconverted sinners who have not yet found Christ. Don't think of yourself at all as morally superior to them. God is able out of the same lump of clay etcetera, to work. You're the same as them, you are made out of the same lump of clay. So be humble, and be compassionate to them, as they're still in their drunken stupor laying in that opium den, be compassionate, and then be bold and tell them the truth about Jesus. Close with me in prayer.
Linda Abrams of Bob Jones University on Obama's predicament with the Islamic State (1:15).◾James Carafano of the Heritage Institute on terrorism in Syria (6:25).◾Bill Gertz of the Washington Times weighs in on Libya (9:50).◾Is fracking safe? Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research provides insight (13:00).◾Common Core harms religious rights according to Steve Camp (17:00).◾Robert Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary talks about homosexuality (21:40).◾Pastor Dan Delzell on being born again as a Christian (27:45).◾Rosaria Butterfield responds to a question about being gay (35:40).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dr. Robert Gagnon presents "The Silence of the Lamb?" It's very common today to hear people defend at least certain types of same-sex eroticism as being consistent with Christian morality by saying, "Jesus never said a word about homosexuality." But is that really true?
Dr. Robert Gagnon presents "Agreeing with God" - a truly Biblical approach to "Out & Proud" sexuality. He also examines some of the scientific evidence concerning homosexuality, including whether people are born gay?
Dr. Robert Gagnon presents "From 'Abomination" to 'Gay'": Focusing on the creation of Adam and Eve and other OT passages, this video takes on modern "gay" theology. Are God and the Bible okay with homosexuality as long as it's between adult, loving, committed partners?
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