So, this morning we are doing the depravity of the homosexual movement. Let's go the Lord in prayer, shall we? O Lord God, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord. Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart this day to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty. Rather, accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have gathered us together. Protect us from Satan, who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions, which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Protect us from the world's cares, and the delight of wealth, and the passion of other interests, which enter in and choke your word, making it fruitless. Rather give us good soil, O Lord. Plow now the hard ground of our hearts, that your sown word would send roots downward, and then bear fruit upwards. Unsheath now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to the dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them. and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart from call by thy name, O Lord God of Hosts. O Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way, and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you, we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look, and then go away, and then promptly forget what they have seen. But make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your holy word. O LORD, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior. We pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word. And we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, guys. And ladies, this will be an exciting time. We're going to go into the word of God on the depravity of the homosexual movement. Feel free to hit the record button if you want to record this. I'm also recording it. It'll appear on our website in about a month. But you should also feel free to record it on your phone, handheld device, or through Zoom also allows recording. Our key passage on the depravity of the homosexual movement is, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge that... Recording in progress. to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do the things which are not proper. The short version of this study is first, the homosexual movement is made up of people who made a decision. They made a decision in their relationship with God. God's response to this was to give them over. He gave them over to a depraved mind. And yet, in giving them over to the depraved mind, they chose to do things which are not proper. That's a very important beginning point. The homosexual movement makes the claim that they are born this way. And many naive Christians have accepted that as true. What other sinful state do we accept the word of the sinner over the word of God? Hebrews 9.27, it's appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment. Well, in my experience, other religions are just as valid as Christianity, such as Joel Osteen has said about Hinduism. I don't see how you can say my loving auntie who is Jewish, or who is Muslim, or who is Hindu, or who is a non-Christian, I don't think she's in Heaven. She's in Hell. I think she's in Heaven. Oh, okay, since you feel strongly about that, it must be so. No, we reject that on the basis of God's Word. Revelation. 2015 and if any man's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into fiery pit well and yet in the homosexual movement I find more and more Christians willing to accept the lie of Satan that they were born this way, this is who they are, rather than this is who they chose to be. That's amazing to me. Why would you accept the testimony of a person for whom God describes as being given over to a depraved mind as proof of who they are and what they're doing. Key scriptural passage on the depravity of homosexuality is Romans 1, 24 through 28. Romans 1, 24 through 28. Brother Bishan, would you unmute yourself and read this passage and I'll be stopping you periodically. We'll get that good, rich Nigerian accent. Can you read that, Brother Bishan? Okay, Uncle John. Romans 1. Verse 24 through 28. All right. Just a minute. Romans 1. Yeah. Okay. 24 to 28. Therefore, God gave them up in the loss of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the Creator rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up. to dishonoring passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up. to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. Now we can see some key principles here. One is that homosexuality is a decision. Notice it says they exchange the truth. that they exchanged the natural function for the unnatural function. They burned in their desire towards one another. And we'll be looking at this further, but homosexuality is a decision. Secondly, we can see that God's heart in god's heart homosexuality is repugnant he really is uh... refers to it as degrading as unnatural third thing we can see it is that the uh... naive christians who say because of the imputed sin of adam some men will be born or women will be born homosexual tendencies or homosexual desire. Well, this is rejected in that in the New Covenant, not only after the fall, after the law, in the Church, in the New Covenant, God refers to the natural function versus the unnatural, which is chosen. Notice in verse 27, men abandon the natural function. and burned in their desire for one another. Women exchanged the natural function, in verse 26, for that which is unnatural. So, after the fall, in Genesis 2 and 3, and we'll look at this, man and woman were still heterosexual. The fall of man did not affect his sexual propensity either for man or for woman. From this passage we can see that homosexuality is indicative of the judgment of God. Notice it says the due penalty of their error. In man's value system it is not fair for the judgment of God to begin before death. No fair, no fair, no fair. Now the penalty of unforgiven sin is hell. Revelation 20 15. And this does not begin until after death. But the judgment of man can begin at any time God desires. Notice in Psalm 19.13 it says, also keep back your servants from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgressions. This is a prayer in my prayer notebook that I would not engage in presumptuous sins. Presumptuous sins are sins that I commit that out of my pride I don't think are sins. And the only thing that will deliver us from presumptuous sins is the mirror of God's Word. Now, Christians cannot lose their salvation. Even so, I should not presume upon the grace of God as it pertains to my sanctification. Proverbs 29.1 says a man who hards his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith it does not say they will lose their salvation it simply says they will fall away or stray from the faith and how they will do this is they will pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons and by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience As with a branding iron. And we have to be very careful of this. We have to maintain our faith in what is true by the word of God. Because God, the Holy Spirit says, it is possible for us to become insensitive to Him. It would be as if our conscience was seared with a grinding iron. I know on a couple of occasions, I was burned severely on my hand. And that portion of my hand is covered with scar tissue and no longer sensitive to touch. And God the Holy Spirit says that if we are not careful, If we stray from the faith, our conscience can be seared as with a branding iron. That does not mean you'll lose your salvation, but it should give us soberness in our dealing with sin in our lives. For the non-Christian, the judgment of God may occur at any time. Now, for the Christian, Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who engross Jesus. We do not fear the judgment of God, 1 John 4.18. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear. Fear involves punishment. The one who fears is not perfected in love. So we do not fear the judgment of God. The judgment of God fell on Christ is our substitutionary sacrifice. Hebrews 10.18, where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer a sacrifice for sin. God rather, in Hebrews 12.10, disciplines us as sons. And that's what we desire. that we would not be left to our own devices, that our conscience would not be sheared as a branding iron, but that we would be responsive to the discipline of God in our lives to return to Him. But I remember, I have shared this ever since my early days in the college ministry back in the seventies till today. I will invite somebody to engage in scripture memory, to engage in personal evangelism, to get involved in a Bible study, to make a commitment to a ministry activity. And they will say, I can't do that right now. I'm too busy. Talk to me next year. Talk to me next semester. Talk to me after I get my children all in school. But the presumption there, and this is where presumption soon comes in, the presumption is that you will still want to do that a year from now. And that's not true. By that time, your conscience may have been seared as a branding iron, and you were indifferent to scripture memory. a Bible reading program, a ministry activity, commitment to your local church, your home group, your small group. Well, for the non-Christian, the judgment of God may occur at any time. Exodus 9-12, Exodus 10-1, Exodus 10-20, 27, 11-10, 14-8, 14-17, all have the same theme. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not listen to them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. The judgment of God had begun on Moses. He was a dead man. His fate was sealed. Now, he wasn't going to die for six more chapters, but he was already on his way to hell. God had hardened his heart. He could not, he would not, because he could not repent. Now, we say that's not fair. Well, we never want to talk to God about fairness. If God is fair, everybody goes to hell. We say that's not good. Well, when our concept of what is fair, what is good, what is right collides with God's word, then we want to align our thinking up with the plumb line of God's word. Now, as Americans, we fight against this because from early childhood, we learned in the preamble of our constitution, we hold these truths as self-evident. But there are no self-evident truths. There is the truth as revealed by the word of God. But we have trouble with that because that has been ingrained in us that there are some things that we just know by our nature is true. But what we know by our nature is sinful. Isaiah 53, 6. Now in Exodus 14, 17, As for me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so they will go in after him. So God not only hardened Pharaoh's heart, But the Egyptian army, when they came to the shores of the Red Sea and saw those towering walls of water on either side, and Pharaoh went headlong into that abyss, you know, you would think the Egyptian army would say, now wait a second, what about the plagues? What about the frogs? What about the blood? What about the fleas? What about the death of the firstborn? What about, what about, what about? And would have reigned in their chariots and not followed Pharaoh down. But that's not what happened because God hardened the hearts of the Egyptians. They were all dead too. They were all destined for hell. Now, although Pharaoh did not enter hell until after he died, the judgment of God began well before this. Exodus 14, 27 and 28. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army. They had gone into the sea after them. Not even one of them remained." But that was a done deal way back in Exodus 9 when God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And then in 14, He hardened the hearts of the Egyptians. Now, one of the important things to recognize about homosexuality is that you are dealing with a people to whom God has given over. They are receiving the due penalty of their error. Now, that's not Christian homophobia. That is Romans 1, 24 through 28. That does not mean, and we will see this, that homosexuals can't be saved. I've led a number of homosexuals to Christ. They repented and became heterosexuals, got married, have children, and have lived fruitfully as heterosexuals in the church. But I have known many men who were homosexuals who desired to be celibate homosexuals and were invited into the church on that basis to the great despair of those people whom they influenced because they were unrepentant. There is no such thing as the celibate homosexual. There's no need for it. A repentant homosexual is a heterosexual. Now, God speaks in the Holy Scripture of the restrainer. At some point, the restrainer will be removed from all mankind. And I do not know if this is a specific angel, if it is a ministry of one of the members of the Holy Trinity, or if it is another created being, such as seraphim, sheraphim, that are not in human form, only in spiritual form. But at some point this restrainer will be removed from all mankind. 1 Thessalonians 2, 6 and 7. And you will know what restrains him now. so that in his time he will be revealed for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains him will do so until he is taken out of the way so there is some point in the history of mankind that this restrainer will be taken out of the way and the full depravity of man and the full consequences of the fall will be felt in all aspects of God's creation. God, however, is not limited to this one action. The restrainer can be removed from an individual, such as Pharaoh, and where they were given over to their most base instincts or action, or the restrainer can be removed from a people, such as the Egyptians, where God hardened their hearts. Just as the judgment of God can begin before death, so the restrainer can be removed as an aspect of God's judgment at any time God so wills. And that's what I feel that phrase, God gave them over means, The restraining power that God exerts on the unregenerate to keep them from following all of their natural and base inclinations is removed. God gave them over. This is the danger of folding the so-called celibate homosexual into your family, ministry, or church activities. And I've heard this. I've heard this preached from the pulpit. Now it's not God's will for everyone to marry? There are some of us who are celibates by the call of God. There are some celibate just by the sheer fact of the numbers, that there is not created by God the exact same number of men and women on the earth. And it is also the result of the fall in some men's lives because of their gender identity that they will never marry. even though they do not practice homosexuality. The restrainer has been removed from homosexuals and their nature is still at work within them. This is very hard for heterosexuals to understand because if you have a problem with lust, fornication or adultery, if you repent from those, you need not repent from your heterosexual desires. They are not sinful. In fact, if you did repent from your heterosexual desires, it would be a sin. And yet, for the homosexual, his very desire is sin, not just the actions. Notice how his nature, his desire, not just his actions are described in Romans 1, 24-28. The lust of their hearts to impurity, degrading passions, exchanging the natural function for that which is unnatural. The men abandoned the natural function. burned in their desire for one another, depraved mind. As such, the so-called celibate homosexual cannot be trusted because he is still in willful sin. He is still a ticking spiritual time bomb. He has not repented and returned to heterosexuality. He still desires your son. He still desires your daughter. She still desires your daughter. She still desires children in the children's ministry. He still desires children in the children's ministry. He still desires the brothers in Christ. You meet with him one-on-one. You are seeking to minister to him. He is on a date. This is not true of the heterosexual. The heterosexual need only cease the action for his heterosexual. Nature is not a sin. Only the action is a sin. Only looking at pornography is sin because he cannot lust after his wife. Only fornication is the sin because he cannot commit sexual intimacy sin with his wife. Only adultery is sin because he cannot commit sexual immorality with his wife. Contrastingly, the homosexual must repent both of the action and the desire. For not just the action is repugnant to God, as with heterosexuals, but the very desire as well is an act of rebellion against God. John, how can you say that? I wouldn't say that. Just like It's appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment. How can you be so judgmental? I'm not. I'm just sharing with you God's Word. How can you be so judgmental of the homosexual? I'm not. God's Word says He exchanged the natural for the unnatural. He abandoned the desire God gave Him for the unnatural. God, therefore, has given him over. He is receiving the just condemnation. This is God's Word. This desire of the homosexual is unique and all-consuming. and cannot be equated with heterosexual desire. And that is the major problem with men in the church seeking to minister to homosexuals, is that it is unnatural. And as a result, they can't imagine it. They don't even like to think about it. This does not mean homosexuals cannot be saved. The Holy Scripture is clear on this. There are none, including homosexuals beyond salvation. But in the third lecture, we will look at the unique nature of ministering to homosexuals. Just as men cannot go into strip joints and pass out tracks to topless women dancers. So men cannot minister to homosexuals. Or do you not on a one-on-one basis? Or do you not know 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 adulterers, nor idolaters, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. But now look at verse 11. Such were some of you. It does not mean they cannot. It just means that repentance is an aspect of salvation. Such were some of you. But you were washed. We were all washed by the blood of Christ. But something else happened to us also. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature. All things have passed away. That means when a man truly becomes a Christian, he repents of all things, and that would include being effeminate or desiring same-sex relationships. Repentance for the homosexual must include repentance from the desire And that leads to the cessation of the action. Not simply the cessation of the action. Now that's very difficult for heterosexuals to accept. A heterosexual cannot imagine the ability to repent from his desire for heterosexual intimacy. And he shouldn't. He doesn't need to. That is because this desire is created by God. It is not sin. There is no need for repentance of heterosexual desire. You say, what about lust? Well, pornography, lust, is an action. It's a sin. But the desire for heterosexual intimacy is not a sin. The heterosexual thinks, I have my heterosexual desires under the control of the Holy Spirit. I am not acting out on them. I have repented of the actions of lust and immorality. I am on my way to Christian maturity through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This, however, does not mean the heterosexual has repented of his sexual desires for his wife. He has no need to repent for the heterosexual desire of his wife. This is not true of the homosexual. There must be repentance without regret of the desire. 2nd Corinthians 7, 10, and 11. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. And I've seen this over and over in naive Christians who sought to minister to homosexuals. And what the homosexual does is he stops the action, because he finds it very unfulfilling, but not the desire. He repents without regret and returns to that sin, but unfortunately now he has been folded into the church. For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong, in everything you demonstrate yourselves to be innocent of the manner. And the truly repentant homosexual hates homosexuality as God does. The very desire is repugnant to it. Now, he can't do anything about his memories, but he can hate those memories and he can seek to replace them with scripture memory. Thus, there is no need for the existence of the celibate homosexual. If the homosexual has truly repented, He is not a homosexual. He's a heterosexual. He can get married, have children, and lead a normal life. If he is still a homosexual, he is not repentant simply because he is not acting out on the desire. He is a homosexual, and in God's eyes, unrepentant. Remember, Homosexuality, according to the Word of God, is a choice. The heterosexual has not chosen his desire. It is created by God. Remember that. That's where our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church have gone so wrong. They feel a priest can choose to be celibate. And through fasting, acts of contrition, mortification of the flesh can get rid of his sexual desire and live a life pleasing to God. Well, leading a life pleasing to God is being a heterosexual. And for the vast majority of Christians, that will of God is to get married and have children. The heterosexual has not chosen his desire. We are not on neutral. We can choose to be celibate. We can choose to be heterosexual. Rather, that desire is created by God. We cannot choose to be heterosexual. We are born heterosexual. Notice in Genesis 2.18, then God said, it is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. At the very dawn of creation, We see man and woman as heterosexual. 224, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. The heterosexual desire is created with God and devoid of shame. And Genesis 3 16, after the fall to the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth and pain. You will bring forth children yet, or, but your desire will be for your husband. It didn't go away and he will rule over you. Those are aspects of the wife's relationship. with her husband that transcends the fall of man, transcends the law, transcends the prophets. transcends the Gospels and goes right on into the Church Age in Ephesians 5, 22 through 24. In Romans 1, 26 and 27, it says the women exchanged the natural function. So there is a natural function under the new covenant. It is not affected by the imputed sin of man. Men abandoned the natural function. They had a natural function. It was not lost at the fall. 1 Corinthians 7.5 Stop depriving one another so that Satan will not be able to tempt you. The heterosexual desire is created by God. It's created by God, and God has the expectation that we will fulfill it in the context of marriage. Contrastingly, the homosexual has chosen his desire. It is sin and repugnant to God, as can be seen in Romans 1, verse 25. They exchange the truth. Verse 26, women exchanged the natural function for the unnatural. 27, men abandoned the natural function. Verse 27, committing indecent acts. Verse 28, to do these things which are not proper. The homosexual is exchanging and abandoning the will of God and knowingly and willfully committing acts and knowingly and willingly doing things which are not proper. And you say, well John, well modern science is telling us that they are born this way. Hey, modern science is telling us that evolution is true. Modern science will tell us that Jesus didn't rise from the dead. Modern scientists will tell us that people who claim to experience miracles are charlatans. Modern science will tell us that children are not children in the womb, that they can be murdered. Modern science tells us lots of things. and we have to hold up all of the claims of modern science to the Word of God. This does not mean, as I have said, that they cannot be saved. But it does mean that until they are saved, your spouse, your children, your family, your ministry, your church must be protected from them. The reason for this caution is the very origin of homosexuality. The unrepentant homosexual, the so-called homosexual, is still in a state of judgment and depravity. Therefore, God gave them over. For this reason, God gave them over. And as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind. You are inviting someone who God has given over to a depraved mind to be around your children, your wife, your sons, your daughters, the children in your church, the young men in your ministry, or the young women in your ministry. They should not be folded in until they have repented, until they are heterosexual. Now, homosexuality in the Old Covenant, the law singles out homosexuality as abomination. Leviticus 18.22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination. Now we know the death penalty in the old covenant is carried out by the nation of Israel is given as a picture of the true penalty of sin. Now, in the new covenant, this picture has been fulfilled in Christ, judicial penalties are taken away from the church and given to the state, Romans 13, 1-5. We don't have police who go out and do these things. Don't send out our church sheriff, our church constable. But nevertheless, we can still see the heart of God as it pertains to certain sins. If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed what? A detestable act. Romans 18, 22. An abomination. That's the heart of God as it pertains to this sin. Now in homosexuality in the new covenant, God the Holy Spirit makes it clear that homosexuality remains abhorrent to God in the New Covenant as well. Notice verse Romans 124, Lush of their hearts to impurity. their bodies would be dishonored among them, 26. Degrading passions, 26. Unnatural, Romans 1, 27. Abandon the natural function, verse 20, Romans 1, 27. Committing indecent acts. This is the heart of God. First Corinthians 6.9, or do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals. Notice in this passage that even if homosexuals take a monogamous partner, they are still fornicators. Fornication is sexual relationships outside of marriage. Since God only recognizes and blesses heterosexual marriage, all monogamous homosexual relationships fall under the category of fornicators. 1 Timothy 1 9 and 10 1 Timothy 1 9 and 10. Realizing the fact that the law is not made for the righteous person, but those who are lawless and rebellious. And who are the lawless and rebellious? In verse 10, homosexuals. And how does it speak of them? Contrary to sound teaching. Those who hold to celibate homosexuality, those who hold to monogamous homosexuality as existing within the will of God, are lawless and rebellious and they hold to things which are contrary to sound teaching, or the Greek word there is doctrine. You can notice in 1 Timothy 1.10 homosexuality is a state or desire. It is not simply an action. Heterosexual immorality starts with the will of God. Genesis 2.25, and his man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. 1 Corinthians 7.5, stop depriving one another. Heterosexuality, immorality starts with the will of God and then turns the will of God to a sinful action, such as lust, Matthew 5, 28. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has committed adultery with her in her, in his heart or fornication, which is sex with a single person. or adultery, sex with a married person. Hebrews 13.4 The marriage bed is to be held in honor among all, and is to be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. So what you have here is a God-created propensity which is good. which can be turned to sin of lust, fornication or adultery. But the repentant man who is engaged in a lustful lifestyle and fornicators and adulterers need repent from the action They do not repent from the propensity in their heart for heterosexual relationships. That's created by God. Now, it's a slippery slope from heterosexual propensity into lust. But we have to make that differentiation, because a man cannot lust after his wife. In fact, in the books of the Bible, such as Genesis, Esther, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, men are encouraged to look and desire and be excited by the bodies of their wives. The propensity for man and woman for heterosexual intimacy and sexual relations is created by God in good. It must, however, be subject to the constraints of Holy Scripture. Notice how the difference between the desire for heterosexual and homosexual is contrasted. And in the same way men abandon the natural function of women and burned in their desire for one another. The homosexual has abandoned not just the action, but the natural function of his very life. Having abandoned the function, the propensity for heterosexual sex, he then continues on to the action. This is not true of the heterosexual. The heterosexual began with something good, created by God, the will of God. He need only repent from the action, pornography, fornication, adultery. The heterosexual need not repent from his heterosexual nature, his desire, his propensity, which is good and created by God. The heterosexual is repentant upon the confession and cessation of the action. In contrast, the homosexual is not repentant simply because he has confessed and ceased certain depraved action. The homosexual has abandoned the natural function. He must return to the natural function that he abandoned. He must embrace and function as a heterosexual, with heterosexual desires and heterosexual relationships. For the homosexual is not just the action, which is the sin, but the very desire, which, by the way, he has chosen. Repentance without regret has not taken place until he has given up that which he chose. Repentance has not taken place until the homosexual has returned to the natural function and desire, which he willingly chose to abandon. He has not repented until he is heterosexual. It is an indication of the devaluation of the blood of Christ, the devaluation of the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit, the devaluation of the sanctifying power of the Word of God, that this standard, the return to heterosexual desire, the return to a heterosexual nature and propensity, is seen by the weakened 21st century evangelical church as not only virtually impossible but as a harsh and judgmental standard. It is not. We do the homosexual wrong when we do not lead him to a genuinely repentant born-again relationship with God whereby he can be a heterosexual. Thus lust and the accompanying sin of pornography, fornication, sexual relationships outside of marriage between singles, adultery, sexual relationships outside of marriage by married individuals, are sin. Yet the underlying desire for heterosexual relations is not sin itself. This contrasts with homosexuality. For the very desire propensity for the homosexual gratification, that is in itself sin. For the homosexual to cease watching pornography, for the homosexual to cease fornicating with other homosexual men. For the homosexual to cease committing adultery by having sex with married men? For the homosexual, this is not enough. For unlike heterosexuals, the underlying desire of the homosexual is a chosen sin. Not his created nature, but a chosen sin. This choice must be repented of. This choice must be abandoned. He must return to being a heterosexual as created by God. To fall under the category of repentance, this must take place. God's Word says the homosexual has abandoned the natural state. Not created that way, but abandoned. The sin is not dealt with until the homosexual is willing to return to his created state of heterosexuality, which he willingly abandoned. Notice Romans 1.26, the passion itself is considered degrading. The very desire is unnatural. And this is why it's so hard for heterosexuals to wrap their heads around this. Because that's not true with them, but it is true with the homosexual. It would be cruel to tell a heterosexual single man, now you cannot even desire. to want to be married. You cannot even desire women in order to be sanctified. That's not true. I have butted heads with parachurch organizations who tell single people, you need to put marriage on the altar. You can't even desire to be married. You know, as if that desire wasn't created by God. For that desire is created by God. It may not be fulfilled in all cases, but in all cases the desire will remain. I've known women missionaries who were in their 60s when they got married. They never gave up the desire because it was created by God. And I know men missionaries who died single, but never gave up their desire. And one of their big struggles was that God never fulfilled that desire. But that desire was there. Heterosexuals do not die to the desire to be married and bear children. They give it to God. For this reason, it says, God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for the unnatural. The very passion of the homosexual, though not fulfilled, is degrading. Thus, the so-called celibate homosexual. he has the desire but is not fulfilling it, is in sin. While the celibate heterosexual who has the desire but is not fulfilling it is not in sin. This is the danger that naive Christians face when seeking for the church to be open to and minister to homosexuals within their church programs as long as they are celibate. Because that homosexual is still willfully sinning. They are not sinning as a heterosexual who struggles with lust. They are sinning as a homosexual who still has a chosen, depraved, burning propensity. And as such, they are a spiritual time bomb waiting to go off in the church. It is not the same. as a single man or a married man struggling with mental purity. The very need to struggle with mental purity for the homosexual is sinned, where it is not with the heterosexual. Homosexuality is a choice. It is neither genetic nor the judgment of God upon parents. Now, a apologetic argument which I have used many times with homosexuals is that if evolution is true, if homosexuality is genetic, If the individual has no choice, the only conclusion can be that, quote, nature, whatever that is, has selected that particular individual out to be eliminated from the gene pool, unworthy of the gene pool. In the evolutionary model, the highest good is the propagation of the species, the gene pool. That is the driving force of evolution. That is the driving force of, quote, nature. Thus, homosexuals have been selected to be weeded out. What more cruel statement can be made to a homosexual that he was born that way? That nature is weeding him out as substandard, eliminating his genes from the gene pool. Now, If it is true homosexuals are born that way, that they are being weeded out of the gene pool. This weeding process brings into question why they were not eliminated from the gene pool thousands of years ago. Since it's genetic, that gene should have died long ago. But since there's no genetic evidence, It is just an excuse used by men who have chosen to live a certain way. There is also cruelty that is a result of the sin of parents. I've heard this before. A parent's son or daughter professes homosexuality and people immediately say well they must have a horrible marriage who knows what was taking place in that home what evil parents they must be Ezekiel 18 verse 4 says behold all souls are mine the souls of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine the soul that sins will die the person who in verse 20 the person who sins will die. The son will not bear punishment for the father's iniquity, nor the father bear punishment for the son's iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself. The wickedness of the wicked will be upon themselves. I'm not saying that some homosexuals did not come up in terrible family situations, but God still says it's a choice. First Corinthians 10.13 is always there. We are not tempted beyond our power to resist, and 2 Corinthians 5.17 is always there. They will be born again, cleansed by the blood of Christ, justified, sanctified. Now the Russian Orthodox Church, when we were ministering in Russia, specifically in Belarus, says that the sin of the mother is passed through her breast milk, thus all women with special needs children are removed from the church. That has become a great ministry for the Baptist in Belarus. Because these women are welcomed into the church, knowing that their children are not deformed. They were created by God that way. They are special needs. A need is not as a result. A need is not the result of sin. Jesus needed to sleep. Jesus needed to eat. Adam needed to sleep. Adam needed to eat. Adam needed to work. Adam needed a wife. The Roman Catholic priest versus the Word of God is also seen here. i had a hispanic couple in bible study he received christ he began coming to church they joined my sunday school class when she lost her baby in her second trimester her priest came to them visited them in their home and said god killed your baby because he would rather kill your baby than become a protestant and go to hell so your baby's in purgatory you can be a repentant catholic a woman, do acts of contrition, and get your baby out of purgatory. Pentecostal charismatic movement is also seen in this, whereby by faith God heals all diseases. Well, if the man of faith is healed of all diseases, the only people in heaven are those without faith. We have all sorts of distorted teachings concerning why people are the way they are. And one of those concerns homosexuality. They're either born that way or it's a result of environment. Neither is true. Homosexuality may be influenced, the temptation may be by environment, but it is a choice. When we pray for the homosexual, we do not pray for healing, but rather repentance. Homosexuality is not a genetic disease. It is a choice. You see, the naivety of so-called compassionate evangelicals who are willing to accept the lie fostered by homosexuals that they were born this way causes much spiritual damage. What other spiritual state are we willing to accept the word of the sinner over the word of God? Accepting the homosexual lie that they were born this way brings into question both the depravity of homosexuality and the authority of scripture. Psalm 119, 13 through 16. For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when it was made in secret, skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. for us to believe that homosexuality has a genetic propensity is to say that God created this man or this woman to be a homosexual. Since the very desire of the homosexual is depraved, then God would have had to knowingly create this desire in the homosexual's heart. The doctrine of man being Man at conception and the sovereignty of God over his created state is established in this passage. The Holy Scripture makes it clear that God has created only two genders, male and female. Genesis 1.27, Genesis 5.2. It is inconceivable that God would do otherwise The willingness for these naïve and misguided ministers to accept that the homosexual desire was created in the womb means that God either sanctions the desire as long as it is not fulfilled, or that the Holy Scripture are unreliable when it comes to the doctrine of life created by God at conception. Men and women being created as homosexuals due to the fall of man and imputed sin of Adam is a fabrication based on the imaginations of men of what could be as opposed to what God's holy word states is. After the fall, God still relates to man's nature propensity for heterosexual relationships. This was not destroyed by the fall, nor by the imputed sin of Adam." Well, where do we go from here? We do not know when the judgment of God will fall. God's judgment fell on Pharaoh while other wicked kings in Holy Scripture lived long lives. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, 3 and 9 were struck down for lying and stealing while others who have stolen from God or broken a vow live long lives. Herod received the worship as a God, not a man in Acts 12, 22 and 23, and was eaten by worms while all of the Caesars claimed the same thing and lived long lives. We do not know that it will not be for an individual sin, but rather a real full choice of wicked lifestyle. We do not know when the judgment of God will fall in the area of homosexuality. A man on our board of directors, Rob Stephens, is now with the Lord, was sharing Christ with a pilot on United Airlines. This pilot said, I became a pilot simply to get easy women. And every time I flew from one city to another, I had sex with a beautiful stewardess or some woman I met in the airport. It's just something about being a pilot. And I've done this for three years, but now I've started when i'm checking into the airplane to look at some of the stewards some of the men and they noticed me looking at them and i don't want to look at them that way but i've started to do it rob save me he cried out in tears we know that a christian will never be given over by god romans eight one there is no condemnation for those who are in christ Jesus Romans 8, 38 and 39, nothing will separate us. John 6, 37 through 40, Jesus will never let us go. We know that will never happen. Thus all homosexuals are by nature non-Christians upon whom the judgment of God has fallen and they have been given over. Repentance for the homosexual is to return to the homosexual desires which they have abandoned. This is only possible by their being born again. I hope that, uh, This lecture has created several convictions in you. First is that homosexuality is a heinous sin, not only in the action but desire. That the celibate homosexuality is a fiction. There is the homosexual and then the repentant homosexual who is a heterosexual. The celibate homosexual is still under God's judgment and in sin. Secondly, homosexuality is not genetic. It is a choice. No couple need feel that their child is a homosexual as a result of some genetic anomaly that they passed down to the child. Thirdly, homosexuality is not a result of the sin of the parents. No Christian parent need think, what did we do wrong? Homosexuality is the choice of the individual. It is better for us to face the fact that the homosexual is not a Christian, lead him to the Lord, that he might become a functioning, fulfilled heterosexual in the church, than to leave him in his state out of a misplaced, naive desire to show compassion. May God add his blessing to his holy word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.