So in those places, Genesis 1,
27 and 28, so God created man in his own image. In the image
of God created he him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, the fowl of the air, over every living thing that moveth
upon the earth. Now chapter 2, verse 21. And
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and
closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God
had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall
be one flesh." Now, I want you to store in your memory that
expression, one flesh. They shall be one flesh. Now I'm going to take a rather
circuitous route to get us to our text and our subject of the
morning. I'm going to begin by saying
what you are aware of. that there is a great battle
that is brewing and that is raging in the land of the free and the
home of the brave. There is a great fight and a
great tug of war between two very different views of homosexuality. Nor is the issue restricted and
limited to homosexuality per se, that is, to the acts and
the life of homosexuality. They are out of the closet now. They are protected by special
laws passed in the land that does not content them. That's
not enough. That's not far enough. The push
now is to legalize the so-called same-sex marriage. Not content
with being domestic partners, not satisfied with what some
call civil unions, they want the right to legally marry, quote
unquote, with the same treatment at work, the same insurance benefits
and coverage and inheritance rights and such like, as a traditional
family, husband, wife, children, and so forth. Now, by the way,
bear with me a bit while I expand upon the point that is just made. And that is that they're not
content, they're not satisfied with simply being able to come
out of the closet. Now they're pushing for the right
to legally marry. Now mark my words. They will
not be satisfied with legislation of homosexual marriage either. That will not be enough. They
will push on. They want the right to adopt
children like others. They want homosexuality to be
taught in the school as a good thing to your young children. They want and they have. special
hate crime laws that are to be used against their critics to
bully them into silence. They want any to be fired from
their job at work that speak out or that criticize homosexuality
in a strong way. And mind you, from this past
week, they want companies literally destroyed, absolutely, that oppose
homosexuality and homosexual marriage. And hear this, whether
you know it or not, there is one arm of the homosexual movement,
it's called NAMBLA. N-A-M-B-L-A. And it stands for North American
Man-Boy Love Association. And they're pushing, and have
for a while, pushed for the abolishing of all age of consent laws. In fact, I have written down
this partial quote from a NAMBLA brochure that was passed out
at a demonstration. Quote, homosexuality is good
not only for adults, but for young people as well. We support all consensual sexual
relationship regardless of age." I found that in the book Homosexual
Network, page 464. And before we get at our main
subject for today, the question of homosexuals marrying, let
us get an overview of the issue. Let's see what the issues are.
Let's see the nature and the scope of the battle, how the
battle lines are drawn, and how they are being fought in our
day. Then let's identify some of the
supporters of the wave of homosexuality trying to sweep the land and
kind of define the movement in order that we might understand
their aim and their goal. You go on the net, you can find
anything. And information I found in researching
the net and reading different publications of this sort is
of this sort. What is called gay marriage is
now legal. in several states, New York,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland,
and Washington, D.C. I read that there have been 32
elections around the country where the issue of homosexual
marriage has been included on the ballot for people to vote
on. And every time, it was voted
down or voted again. They cannot win, at least not
yet, can they win by the ballot. So after the citizen refused
to approve what they call so-called gay marriage, The supporters
of it then go and file a suit before some liberal and progressive
judge who declares the vote unconstitutional and throws out the majority vote
of the people so that they are able then to use these progressive
judgment judges and courts to implement the homosexual agenda
one at a time and defeat and overthrow the vote and the will
of the majority. And the movement has counted
it a boost for some of those very prominent celebrities that
have come out publicly for it to be known. endorsed, therefore,
the issue of so-called gay marriage. Now, according to a story recently,
the first I'd heard about it, but the first female astronaut
that went into space, and I'm not going to call any names during
our study of the morning, but the first female astronaut passed
away the other day and it was revealed that she had been in
a lesbian relationship for about 27 years. Recently, a well-known
cable TV host came out publicly. I think he's with CNN. Houston
has twice elected an openly lesbian mayor. The president recently,
quote, evolved, unquote, on the issue and endorsed same-sex or
gay marriage. And this week, just this week,
there was a lengthy article in the Houston Chronicle that gay
marriage would be made a part of the Democratic platform, probably,
in this coming election. I predict that it will be a major
issue and a major fight in this next election. Not only so, but
the supporters of so-called gay marriage have been able to garner
some strong financial support from some very deep pockets in
our country. Some very large cooperation and
rich persons have given much money to the movement in support
of it. I read some of these figures
on Google and it seemed to me that the articles that I read
were from the homosexual standpoint, that it was they that had posted
these cooperation as giving them their support. Amazon.com 2.5
million dollars to defend Washington's same-sex marriage law. Microsoft cast in $100,000 into
that same fight. And it mentions support from
such great or big corporations as JCPenney, General Mills, Target,
some of the home supply stores and such like. One article mentioned
that JCPenney endorsed gay marriage and that the price of their stock
went from $43 to $20 almost overnight. At the same time, homosexuals
and liberals are urging war of longstanding against the Boy
Scouts. because they will not allow homosexual
scoutmaster. I bet you heard this week about
the chain called Chick-fil-A. The owner opposes homosexuality,
takes a Christian position of it and of the Bible, And so they
call for demonstration against Chick-fil-A, and it kind of backfired
against them because patriots outdid them by a large number. So they are not content to live
and let live. These people are not content
simply to be left alone to live their life, They have become
very militant and they have some very strong allies supporting
their cause, such as the Hollywood movie industry, the big media
and many liberals, and even some churches and apostate preachers
and a slew of corrupt politicians are favoring them. They have
another thing in their favor that gives them cover from those
who honestly, up on biblical grounds, think that homosexuality
is a sin against God and the Holy Scripture. And it gives
them a shield from the arrows of criticism. And that one cover,
and that one protection is the enforcing of political correctness. I view it as cultural communism. We've studied it before. We've
looked at its history. We saw how political correctness
got on its feet and how it came into being. For example, you
can criticize Christianity, you can mock Jesus, you can make
fun of the Bible, you can cuss and desecrate the churches, but
you can't do the same thing to homosexuality. The politically
correct term for it is gay, and you would be fired, you would
be disciplined, you would be reprimanded at work, if you used
an unflattering term to describe it and they heard it. And the
rigid enforcement of political correctness makes it a convenient
club against the Bible and against Christianity. You will be diagnosed
with that awful disease, that awful disease of homophobia,
if you do not agree and if you do not go along with it. And they will use that to try
to bully you into silence, and to silence their critic. Plus
specific hate crime laws are now in place but they're never
enforced when the perpetrator is himself a homosexual. Now, we should recognize that
the adoption of the term gay is a deliberate ploy to remove
the stigma of it. for it is a common practice today,
you give a horrible, horrible thing an innocent sounding name
so that you can hide the true nature and scope and make it
sound innocent and harmless. And that's something that psychology
has taught us in our lifetime. But now let's consider the issue
at hand, so-called gay marriage, which, as we already said, has
been legalized in several states. And so this begs the question,
what is marriage? What is it that can be called
or that constitutes marriage? So the question is, can there
be such a thing as marriage between two people of the same gender? That's our question. Can there
be such a thing as marriage between two people of the same gender. For this is the push. Same-sex
marriage in our day. This is what is being legalized
and is being called marriage, recognized as marriage, and even
referred to as a family. We've all seen them have their
nuptials on TV, We've seen two of the same gender marry, smack
a big old kiss, and go happily on their way. But it goes without
saying that as Christians, we can only view this through the
eyes of the sacred and holy Scripture. Our only guide is the Word of
God. What the Word of God teaches
us is the Christian view. And then we may hasten on to
add They not only give us a view of traditional marriage, that
is the scripture, they also clearly, very clearly discuss the matter
of homosexuality, setting it in a very clear light by the
Scripture and by the Word of our God. In Genesis 1 and Genesis
chapter 2, it is the account of the very first pair which
God created. And we learn there that human
nature consisted in two genders. Genesis 127. So God created man
in His image. In the image of God created He
Him. Male and female created He them. Male and female. A man, Adam,
and a woman, Eve. And we learn also that God created
the man out of the dust of the earth and that He took a rib
out of the side of the man and He created a woman and brought
her unto Adam. We want to take note here of
a couple of sayings from the Genesis account in regard to
the first pair. And that is, it was not two men
It was not two women, let alone three women and one man, that
is multiple wives for the man, but one man, one woman, one of
each gender. I would like to read verse 27,
chapter 1, and part of verse 28 again in Genesis 1. God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. And listen, God blessed
them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth. Note, be fruitful, multiply,
replenish the earth. That is, they were to procreate. They were to produce offspring. They were to multiply themselves. That is the way that the earth
was to be populated, by the woman bearing offspring and thus populating
the earth. Who would deny God might have
created 10,000 or more human beings like He did Adam? and
like he did Eve. Or he might have created an earth
full of them if it had been pleasing unto him. But as Calvin said,
it was God's will that we all proceed from one fountain, as
we read it in Acts chapter 17. Paul said there, chapter 17,
verse 26, that God has made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell on the face of the earth. That is, that through
the first pair were created created directly by God, all subsequent
people were to be the result of procreation, the natural procreation
of the race. Now the other statement of interest
is found in Genesis 2, And verse 24, notice the word, therefore,
therefore. This means it has some connection
with something that has gone before. Because of the way that
God gave Eve her being and brought her unto Adam, that she was bone
of his bone and flesh of his flesh. and was called woman,
margin has issue, because she was taken out of man, margin
has issue. Therefore, because of that, on
that account, as a result of this, a man shall leave his father
and his mother, cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Now, it is a question of expositors
whether, in verse 24, it is a continuation of the words of Adam, whether
they are the words of God, or whether they are the explanation
of the historian or the author, Moses. Whoever is the speaker,
the inspiration is from the Holy Spirit. They are in the Scripture. since all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God." 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16. But for now,
consider the words, they shall be one flesh. That is, a husband and a wife,
a man and a woman. And by the way, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself None other than our Savior references this verse
of Scripture in Matthew 9, 5, 6 and in Mark 10. verse 6 through verse 9. And Paul also uses it in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and verse 16 in a warning that he gives against harlotry
and fornication. Now the expression, one flesh. They shall be one flesh. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians
6.16, two saith he shall be one flesh. Two said God shall be
or become one flesh. Marriage is a most unique and
most intimate union sanctioned, ordained by God. It is on one
hand a picture and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
Bride. Though we readily admit that
though it is ordained by God and in paradise, that after the
fall, even this holy institution has not been spared the ravages
of depravity. It is transgressed in several
different ways. There is no doubt that the way
Paul uses the one flesh saying in 1 Corinthians 6 there, that
it pertains to, or includes, or is the conjugal union. 1 Corinthians 6. Paul uses the
Genesis text as a warning against fornication. Because, he said,
the body of the Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit of
God. That the Spirit of God dwells
in the children of God. Saying there in verse 16, Do
you not know, he that is joined to an harlot is one body, that
is, with her? For two saith he shall be one. What then are we to say? What
are we to think about the gay marriage issue in light of these
texts that we have read? What shall we say of a sexual
union of two homosexuals? Can this be a legitimate union? Can it be called or constituted
as a marriage? And can it be put on the same
level with heterosexual marriage? In other words, will making it
legal according to the law make it a marriage in the sight of
Almighty God? Now, how shall we deal with or
act with this subject unless we consider what the Bible teaches
us about this issue? The Bible usually referring to
it as sodomy. We're not talking about former
or reformed or converted homosexuals, but of two practicing homosexuals
who bring it into what they want to be recognized as a marriage,
on the same level, looking at the same way as a heterosexual
marriage. Surely you are aware of Genesis
chapter 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah for the practices
that we are talking about this morning. God reigned fire and
brimstone down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He destroyed it and
it stands as a monument to those that afterwards should live ungodly,
we read in the New Testament. Well, here are some other passages.
Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 22 is as clear as it could be. Thou shalt not lie with mankind
as with womankind. Leviticus 20 verse 13 takes it
even further. If a man also lie with mankind
as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination,
they shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them. Now it should be noted that Leviticus
chapter 18 forbids several forms of sexual sins and deviancy such
as incest of all kind, adultery, bestiality, and homosexuality
to lie with mankind as with womankind, is a modest euphemism for engaging
in intimate or conjugal relation, to have one man use another man
as he would a woman, to lie carnally with one of the same gender. what Gil called mixing their
body in like manner as man and woman. Note those sins in Leviticus
chapter 18 were common among the heathen, and Israel is warned
to avoid them when they enter into the land, some of them being
unnatural as bestiality, sacrificing their children unto the god Moloch
and homosexuality. Now, the latter is called an
abomination in Leviticus 18.22, Leviticus 20 and verse 13. An
abomination in the sight of God. So let's take note of a point.
Homosexuality, also called pederasty, a lover of boys, one that engages
in intimacy with them, was a practice that was common among the idolatrous
pagans and the heathen Gentiles while forbidden among the Israelites
where God was their Lord and was their Master. Now, question,
how can that which is an abomination to God ever be blessed by Him? How can that which is wrong ever
be declared right? One of the strongest passages
in all the Bible dealing with the subject is that one from
the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1. You'll find it in verse 24
through verse 27. And in that place, in verse 24,
listen to what he says. He speaks of those, quote, who
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, unquote. That is,
they degrade or shame their own body. Then look at verse 26. My, how bold is Paul saying,
even their women. The Greek word is simply the
word female. Even their females did leave
or change the natural use into that which is against or contrary
to nature. Look at verse 27. Likewise, also
the males. leaving the natural use of the
woman, and get this, men with men working that which is unseemly. What Paul is describing here
in Romans 1 is the habits and the birth and the practices of
paganism. For homosexuality has always
been most prevalent where there is idolatry or where there is
little or no knowledge or fear of the Almighty God and an ignorance
of the Scripture, where the fear of God is not before their eye. And this is true both nationally
and individually. It's the result of being given
over, Paul says, to vile affection. Many that support homosexuality
are taking an anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-Scripture view
of the matter. How can that be called marriage
that God calls vile and against nature, unnatural, unseemly,
and the expression vile affection? Men burning in their lust toward
one another. craving intimacy with one of
their very own gender. How can that, I go a step further,
be called marriage which union is incapable of producing offspring? How can a union incapable of
producing offspring be looked at as a marriage? One purpose
of marriage, the union of man and woman, is matrimony. It is to procreate the race. Said God to Adam and to Eve,
be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Said God
to Noah after the flood and the human family had been reduced
to but eight people. Genesis chapter 9 verse 1, to
his sons he said, be fruitful and multiply. Now it seems you
see, but few homosexuals who desire children in their quote
family unquote. Just the expression of their
perverted lust is what they seek. So let us remember, while God
calls the male-female marriage union one flesh, get that? God calls the male-female marriage
union one flesh. He calls the homosexual union
going after strange flesh. Jude verse 7, there is a natural
and there is an unnatural use of the body. On that expression
in Jude, verse 7, going after strange flesh, Thomas Matten,
an old Puritan, in his commentary on Jude, wrote this, and I'm
quoting, Other flesh as being other than what nature has appointed
are because it is impossible that man and man should make
a one flesh union as do man and woman." It is strange flesh,
it is other flesh, the word is heteros, different or other than
that which God has sanctioned and which nature dictates. Now again, if I may modestly,
use a euphemism, and as discreetly and as delicately as I can say
this, there is no such thing as gay marriage because of the
anatomical design of the bodies of male and of female, and their
respective reproductive system. Homosexuals cannot reproduce
themselves. There is no way that a lesbian
can make another lesbian pregnant or that one man can make another
man to be with child. One of the objects of marriage,
it is impossible to fulfill for those who are in such a union. Call it marriage if they will. But the truth is, there is no
such thing as really a gay marriage, and never will be. Calling it
so does not make it so, and never will make it so. God's view is
the only valid view that a born-again Christian ought to take. And
I think this explains why They hate the churches. They hate
the churches that take the biblical view of homosexuality. And why they reject true Christianity
as separate from apostate Christianity. If you see them in church, it
will be among apostates and an apostate preacher. And I think
this is why, like, in California they went in, and damage the
church in a great demonstration. They are Bible deniers and they
hate the truth that the scripture brings against them. Therefore,
according to the word of our God, There can be no such thing
as what they are pushing now, and that is a legitimate gay
marriage if you're standing upon the Scripture and upon the Word
of God. And what else have we to say? Where else have we to take our
doctrine and our belief and our practices but from thus saith
the Word of the Lord. Great difference between one
flesh and strange flesh, indeed according to the Scripture.