All right, Genesis chapter 19
and verses 1 through 11. The subject again, the homosexual
revolution. Genesis 19, 1 through 11. And there came two angels to
Sodom at Even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot, seeing
them, rose up to meet them, bowed himself with his face toward
the ground, and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray
you, into your servants' house, tarry all night, wash your feet,
you should rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said,
Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed
upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him, and entered into
his house. He made them a feast, did bake
unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down,
the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house
round, both old and young, and all the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot and
said unto him, where are the men which came into thee this
night? Watch this. Bring them out unto
us, that we may know them.' And Lot went out at the door unto
them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren,
do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters
which have not known man, Let me, I pray you, bring them out
unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Only unto
these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of
my roof." And they said, stand back. And they said again, This
one fella came in to sojourn, and he must needs be a judge. Now we will deal with thee worse
than with them. And they pressed sore upon the
man, even lot, and came near to break the door. But the men
put forth their hand, pulled the lot into the house to them,
and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were
at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves to find the door." There's a
good description of what we want to talk about. Now I realize
it hadn't been that long ago that we took up this subject
and dealt with it, not very long ago, some weeks or months. But for what it is worth, I want
to tell you that a sermon on homosexuality on our website
is the second most visited sermon of all those hundreds that we
have It is the second most downloaded in number. That is, it is in
second place on our website. But I feel constrained that we
might visit the subject again, not for a couple of reasons that
I'll mention rather quickly. Number one, of course it is right
now. a very hot-button issue among
our society and in our country. It is foremost in the news, and
that almost daily, and not likely to ever go away unless something
good from God does occur. In my opinion, well not my opinion,
but it is a fact that the controversy will intensify. It will spread
itself even more into every facet of our society. It already has
as to coming into the churches and in Hollywood. It is in the
media who are full force behind it. It is even in our military
forces of our day and now has entered into the realm are professional
sports or football. Secondly, as the expression goes,
there have been new and ongoing developments in this issue and
battle. What they call gay marriage has
now been legalized in several states. May I remind you, not
by the vote of the citizens, but by a judge overturning the
vote of the citizen. That is, the people in the states
that voted For traditional marriage between a man and a woman, file
suit and a liberal judge calls it unconstitutional. If I'm not
mistaken, that's happened in eight states so far that the
will and the vote of the people have been overthrown. Consider
something else, and that is that the mayor of the largest city
in the state of Texas is a lesbian, has been elected twice, and recently
married her longtime female companion, and partner and is pushing very
hard right now the homosexual agenda, pushing for fines upon
business places where the feelings of homosexuals might be hurt. And the worst part of the ordinance
is if a man feels that he is trapped a woman trapped in a
man's body. If he's transgender, he can use
the lady's bathroom that's in that part of this ordinance of
the mayor. Well, a local weatherman, the
number one meteorologist on one of the stations here in Houston,
recently married his male lover off in another street. An open
lesbian, has hosted several awards out of Hollywood. Now, as to
public policy, homosexuals can now adopt children, receive benefits
and insurance for their domestic partners, and can have a nasty
divorce fight. There's one going on in Texas
right now. And laws have been passed legitimizing
homosexuality and establishing hate crime laws against anybody
that would speak out against it and oppose it. You know how
well the media loves a good hate crime story. Now you should remember
something. that there are no hate crime
laws to punish those who slander and hate Christianity. But we'll
say more about this later on in our study. Perhaps the most
definitive passage for us to study this subject is the one
that we have read in Genesis chapter 19. Here is a part of
the history of the life of Abraham being traced out. Here it focuses
upon his nephew Lot. Remember, they separated when
Lot went to sojourn eventually in the city of Sodom. Now there are two things to consider
about these people and this man. Number one, in Genesis 13 and
13, the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Genesis chapter 18 and verse
20. The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great, and because their sin is grievous. Over in the New
Testament, 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7, where the apostle speaking
of Sodom speaks of, quote, the filthy conversation of the wicked."
Now note that the word conversation in the King James does not always
refer to speech or to talk. or to what they have said or
is being said. But it refers to their behavior,
their conduct, or their manner of life. As one translated, sensuous
conduct of unprincipled men, the nefarious conduct of one
unto Second Peter 2 and verse 8 speaks
of their unlawful deeds, literally their lawless works. As to the nature of their sin,
we see in Genesis chapter 19 verse 5, excuse me, the last
10 words. And Jude is plain in verse 7
of his little epistle, giving themselves over to fornication
and going after strange flesh. Now there are two words here
that are very expressive. A is the word Fornication, from
the word, I think, ekpornul. This is the only time I think
that it is used in the New Testament. And it might be defined as meaning
to be utterly, completely unchaste in life, to be given over to
gross immorality, and to be licentious in their manner of life and their
behavior. And then there's the word be
strange. going after strange flesh, that
is, different or other, contrary to nature and the ordinance of
God Almighty from the beginning. And the second thing we want
to notice is what the scripture said about the character of this
man called Lot. Scripture views him as a righteous
man. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse
23, when God told Abraham that he would destroy the city where
his nephew was residing, Abraham interceded with God in behalf
of Lot and he said, will you also destroy the righteous along
with the wicked? In 2 Peter 2 and 7 again calls
him Just Lot, J-U-S-T, Righteous Lot, or it's almost the same
word that we have down in verse 8, that righteous man referring
unto Lot. Some of his actions were puzzling,
and we read one of them. such as offering his very own
daughters to the knob before his door and his house that night. Yet what he saw, what he heard,
Peter said, was a vexation to his righteous soul. It tortured
his soul. It pained him. It tossed him
about. And notice, when he faced them,
he called their behavior wicked. Genesis 19 verse 7. Compare,
if you would, Judges 19 and verse 23. Now concerning that great
uproar in Genesis chapter 19 involving Lot, his family, and
his overnight guests that had come through, and the event that
brought the lust of the people of Sodom to a boiling point. It brought things as it were
under a head and it cleared the way for the judgment of God to
be poured out, visited upon the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. For in this event with Lot and
the angel, they filled their cup of iniquity to overflowing. But then this is also the New
Testament said, left as an example to others. But one event triggered
it, and that's in verse 1, the appearance of two angels in the
form and the likeness of men who Lot persuaded to accept his
hospitality and spend the night in his house as his guest. Now
there are two things which we single out here for some special
attention and looking at. Number one, the kindling of their
lust. And it made them militants in
the exercise of what Paul calls vile affections in his New Testament
scripture. This in verse four and verse
five of our text. Look at the words again. Bring
them out unto us that we may know them. We'll have more to
say about that later. Secondly, notice their strong,
violent reaction to being judged and called wicked by law. When he called their action and
their intentions wicked, it infuriated them. And they said to him, who
are you? You're not a native of this city.
You are a foreigner. You came to sojourn here, and
now do you rise up in judgment against us? We'll show you. We will do worse to you than
to the men that are in your house." They threatened him with that.
Now, first, from verse 4 and verse 5, the expression of their
evil intent again. Bring the men which came unto
you this night. Bring them out unto us that we
may Know them. Now this word know, let's take
it up, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament is used
in a very wide range of meanings when we check it out. It can
mean an acquaintance. It can mean to be aware. It can mean to feel or to perceive
or to be privy to a certain thing. It is also used, however, and
is such in this case, a modest euphemism for carnal copulation. As in Genesis 4 and verse 1,
Adam knew his wife and she conceived and she bared. It's the same
word in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 7. Adam and Eve knew that
they were naked and they hid themselves among the trees of
the garden. It's in Luke 1 and verse 34 when
Mary asks, How can these things be, seeing I know not a man? See also Matthew 1 and verse
25. Thus it is clear. that what the
men of Sodom, the men at Lot's door, meant in saying that we
might know them, bring them out unto us, it is a sin for which
they were famous and were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Now, I think it's clear from
two things said and done by Lott that that's the case. A, first
of all, in verse 7, he entreated and rebuked them for their request. saying unto them, do not so wickedly,
that is, do not this wicked thing, do not carry out this wicked
intention, do not behave so wickedly toward these men who have sojourned
and come under my roof. Now this thought or possibility
at this place, though the men were angels in human form, they
may have had a goodly outward appearance, and they were, quote,
new, unquote, to the men of Sodom. And Lot may not yet have known
or recognized that they were angels of God. But I think a
second thing there is that confirms the request and the intent of
it. B. In verse 8, if you would,
Lot offers his two daughters to them, saying, Do to them as
is good in your eyes. Now again, compare Judges 19
and verse 23, where the old man there in the text offered and
said the same thing. Now, did Lott think that this
might abate their lust? Whatever he thought, we cannot
excuse him here in his action. John Gills wrote of Lott's proposal,
quote, it must be condemned as dangerous and an imprudent action,
unquote. Was Lott somewhat like Peter? in Mark chapter 9 and verse 6. So startled by what he saw and
by what he heard that he didn't know what to say or do, and so
he proposed something ridiculous to be done. Be that as it may,
let us now consider a second thing, and that is their reaction
to Lot's criticism of their lifestyle, especially their addiction to
their sexual proclivities which were practiced in that place.
Lot called it wicked, and they might have thought that Lot implied
that sodomy was a greater sin than fornication, or that fornication
is the more natural. And though Lot did, as Matthew
Henry put it, mildly and civilly entreat them, unquote, they react
in a rude and an abusive way, and they threatened harm to Lot,
for his view. We will deal worse with you than
with them. And they declared war on the
ordinance of God. They ridiculed Lot for judging
them and threatened him with worse bodily harm than the men
that had come in as strangers. And Lot's words were like pouring
salt as it were, in an open sore or wound. And it brought their
festering ugliness to erupt in fury. And a riot was in the making,
and lots life in danger, except the men in the house had come
and smitten them with blindness who were there milling about
the door. Those, remember, who hate an
ordinance of God also hate to hear it, and they mock those
that uphold it. You'll almost always find that
true. Now, I want to say to you that
we have seen this scene from Sodom played out in the streets
of our city and of our land. We have heard the pleas for tolerance,
inclusiveness, acceptance, we've heard how gay is good, and diversity,
the most beautiful thing up on the face of the earth, that this
alternate lifestyle is acceptable and is good. Now, it is strange,
I tell you, to hear homosexuals speak this way, and their supporters
call for tolerance. because they are the most intolerant
that are among us today, attacking any who oppose their way of life,
calling us hate mongers, ignorant, bigoted, homophobes, and such
like. And they have succeeded in politicizing
the movement of homosexuality. And a new disease has been invented. It's called homophobia. And new
laws have been passed called hate crime laws, and politicians
have criminalized certain Christian beliefs and action. Don't be
surprised, I tell you, if the government punishes churches
that oppose homosexuality by taking away their tax-exempt
status, financially ruining them under a sinful lifestyle, protected
as a guise of civil rights. This has been portrayed as civil
rights. Also, it has required a new interpretation
of the Constitution, the same thing that was done with abortion. Both abortion and homosexual
marriage have been declared to be a homosexual constitutional
right. And I ask you, how long before
euthanasia joins that constitutional right? They have found willing
allies in the liberal media, in liberal politicians, in Hollywood,
in progressive politicians, even liberal churches and God-haters. For example, I read of a liberal
denomination, one of the Carolinas, I don't remember north or south,
which homosexual marriage is illegal. And this church denomination
is suing the state for the right to perform homosexual marriages
in their church. Now, let's shift gears a little
bit. We have had the sexual revolution. Most of you remember that in
the 60s and in the 70s. That was the anything goes generation. If it feels good, do it era. It was the generation of the
hippie. free love movement, when the
young rebelled against the traditional church, the family structure,
and such like, and even found a friendly ally in some of the
churches. And if you remember, it resulted
in much immorality and the flaunting of unchecked sex, when sex was
the subject of almost every TV talk show, and the 60s when we
went slouching toward Gamara, as Robert Bork has said in his
good book. Now that we have the homosexual
revolution, We've had the sexual revolution, now comes the homosexual
revolution in full swing, mounting a full assault against biblical
Christianity and progressive and liberals and secularists
and apostate and other God-haters finding homosexuality a convenient
weapon and battering ram against biblical Christianity. The revolution,
I tell you sadly, is having some success. The war on Christianity
seems to be going pretty well at this particular time. And
their strategy, when we look at it, seems to be working well
enough. Well, they have gained some major
victories that you may not have heard about. Didn't get much
play on the news. I'll give you a few examples. The man had, was it Mullinex,
was that the company? Mullinex lost his job as CEO
after it was discovered that he donated $1,000 to stand for
traditional marriage. I believe it was in California. Did you get that? He lost his
job. His sin, he gave $1,000 to those
that were for traditional marriage. Not only that, but a former professional
football player turned sportscaster fired one day after coming out
in support of traditional marriage as being between a man and a
woman. He was running for a political
office at the time, and the sports network fired him the very next
day. Have you heard of the Christian
photographer in New Mexico fined $6,700 for declining to take photos
of a lesbian commitment ceremony? Have you heard of the Christian
baker in Oregon facing civil penalties for refusing to bake
a cake for a homosexual wedding and her business was closed down. A florist in Washington sued
by the state attorney general for declining to provide a floral
arrangement for a homosexual wedding. An innkeeper in Vermont
flying $30,000 and forced to close her wedding reception business
after declining to cater a lesbian ceremony. Any of you remember
how they tried to destroy Chick-fil-A? I believe it was just last year.
after the owners came out in favor of traditional marriage. You've probably heard the great
sports uproar, the basketball team in California. Well, one
player has already called for the punishment of any team or
owner that supports traditional marriage over gay. Now this does
not sound like tolerance unto me. That homosexuals just want
to be left alone. They just want to live their
lives They're very happy with that, but they're also very hypocritical. Hear this. They don't want to
be denied anything because they happen to be homosexual, but
they want you to be denied things and even a job if you happen
to believe that homosexuality is a sin in the light of the
scripture. Let me give you one more story. This came from AFA website, American
Family Association, Pasadena, California. A city health director
who is also the pastor of some kind of church there put some
sermons on the internet against homosexuality using the Bible. When homosexual complained about
it, the man was put on leave from his job with the city and
city council is now, quote, monitoring his sermons. Unquote. This story ran in the Los Angeles
Times. Quite a story. Now, from these
examples, let us make a prediction. Let me make a prediction. That
is that I'm afraid we've turned the corner. or we are about to
turn the corner if we don't crush the head of that old serpent
of political correctness. We are almost and maybe are at
the day when never again will one who openly holds a biblical
view of Christianity be allowed to hold a high position in government,
in business, or in education, not be a CEO, not be a judge,
not be head of a hospital, not a coach, not a police chief,
not a principal of the school, not the head of any government
agency if you believe that homosexuality according to the scripture is
a sin. Maybe not even own and run their
very own business or company and it even might become a litmus
test for jobs in some places. Consider this, and don't be surprised
at what I say, and that is if homosexuals begin asking evangelical
churches to perform their commitment ceremonies as a strategy, get
that, as a strategy. If refused, they will call a
lawyer and sue for discrimination and mental anguish, or they'll
call the TV station, they favor, and the lead story that night
will be of a church guilty of hate crime and discrimination,
followed by the story of a kitty who fell in a sewer in Seattle. Now the goal is not just to be
tolerated or accepted, not to be put up with, but to affirm
that gay is good. and fully legitimize what they
call homosexual marriage and full acceptance of the homosexual
lifestyle, to normalize it and put it on an equal with heterosexual
marriage. Can you see this has the potential
to change the true nature and the meaning of marriage forever? Marriage can now be whatever
one wants it to be. For example, what if one wanted
to marry a beast or some animal? What if brother or sister wanted
to marry? What if 10-year-olds wanted to
marry? What if an adult wanted to marry
a child? Why legalize homosexual marriage
while throwing polygamists in prison? Can't people love who
they want to? Can't they be married to whoever
they want to? It has opened the door wide. You know, schools have Black
History Month. How long until they have Gay
History Month, when teachers are forced to prostitute themselves
to teach homosexuality and teach kids against the word of God? Need I remind you? There are
no hate crimes to protect Christianity. There is no Christian History
Month, and there is forbidding of Bible reading in the school. Prayers are not allowed in most
places. The mention of the name of Jesus
is not allowed in many of the school functions of our day.
So let's tell it like it is. The homosexual revolution has
greatly escalated the war on Christianity, for the two cannot
peacefully coexist side by side. It has become a convenient battering
ram against Christianity, to break down the walls and to throw
off the restraint of scripture and criminalize action, actually
Christian belief. There are these developments. Number one, liberal apostate
preachers and churches whose view they express is lit. God loves and accepts all, no
matter who they are or what they do. All are God's children, and
we should treat them that way. Secondly, not a few are now more
tolerant and acceptive of homosexuality. Some, they say, are coming around
even to the allowing of gay marriage. Thirdly, and this is important,
I wish you'd hear it. When a child or anyone comes
out to the parents or their classmate, their co-workers, or their friend,
it is part of the strategy of homosexuality in coming out. Why? because knowing a person
or loving a child who comes out or being friends with a homosexual
tends to blunt and to temper former animosity as they judge
by what they think of the person and by what the person is unto
them rather than what the Bible has to say about it. I find that
the young sometimes, kids, are very proud that they have a gay
friend at school and that they are not prejudiced in that light.
Still the acceptance and the celebrating and the legalizing
of homosexuality is part of the final plunge of a society into
moral decay. Making something legal, does
not make it righteous, not at all. We must factor in what the
Word of God said, that God destroyed the old world for sin, and Sodom
and Gomorrah for this very sin, this specific sin. We were possibly
nearing the time when it will be a crime. It will be a hate
crime in our land for a preacher to preach against homosexuality. God cannot be properly recognized
and honored by those who embrace such a lifestyle or practice
the sin of Genesis 19. Have you read in Isaiah chapter
3 verse 9 where he chides the people saying, they declare their
sin as Sodom, they hide it not. And he adds, Woe unto their soul. They're not ashamed. They're
not blushing about their sin. They hide it not. It's out in
the open like was that of Sodom. Paul in Romans 1 describes that
awful slide into immorality by those who suppress the truth
of God in unrighteousness until they begin to act contrary unto
nature. Woe unto those who forget God. Genesis 19, 13. The angel said
to Lot, We will destroy this place because
the cry is wax and gray. We will destroy it. And they
made it a standing monument to the people of God as to God's
view of this particular sin in any day. Then this word of, shall
I call it warning or word of caution. And that is they are
coming after us. The war is on. The media, the
government, most politicians are on their side, making it
almost impossible to push back. They will be fired. They will
be fined. They will be sent to sensitivity
training. I want to close with this. Did
you hear that hullabaloo? over the first openly gay football
player that was drafted into the professional out of college. When his name was called, he
gave a great big kiss to his male lover, lip to lip and mouth
to mouth. And this was nonstop on the news,
nonstop on the news. I told Dale when it first came
out, you watch, the first Christian player in the league that criticizes
that will be cut from the team, he will be gone. One has already
been forced to apologize for tweeting, and he has been fined,
and he has been sent to sensitivity training. to get over that homophobia. Now, this word. Some would hear
these things. They would accuse me or you of
preaching hate. They say you're just spewing
venom. That's all you're doing. You're just being divisive. You
are a hate monger. Because you see, we live in a
time when truth is called hate. We live in a time when a truth
teller is a hater. According to the standard of
our society, heresy is called love and being inclusive and
all of that. All contemporary movements, sooner
or later, affect the church and the camel gets his nose in the
tent of some, but we must ever view it from the light of the
scripture. what the Word of God has to say. This is true about any issue
that comes up. It must be viewed from the Word
of our God. And that's the final word. I'm
Bill McDaniel and I approve this message.