So first of all, Leviticus 18
and verse 22. And by the way, if you have any
question about the depravity of man, read Leviticus 18 all
the way through. And the sins that are mentioned
and forbidden here are proof beyond any doubt of the grave,
deep depravity of men. God put a hook in the jaw of
his people. And he said to them, You shall
not commit these manner of abominations which are committed by the people
in the land wherein I am going to put you." So, look at verse
22 first of all. Here is one of the great prohibitions
of Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 22. thou shalt not lie with mankind
as with womankind, it is an abomination." And just flipping to 20 and 13,
you don't have to turn there unless you want to. If a man
also lie with mankind as he lie with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death,
their blood shall be upon them." That's how that sin was handled
in a theocracy. Now, I'm going a little bit different
route this morning in my introduction and in my opening remarks. As
a prelude to this study, I pray that you might allow me a few
minutes to set some things before you that are currently happening
in regard to the homosexual lifestyle and movement and the advancing
of the homosexual agenda in our country today. And how it is
being pushed upon the people and is being protected by laws
that have been passed strictly relative under the sin of homosexuality. Now I'm going to give you some
examples that are true right now as we sit here this morning. For example, first of all, are
you aware, do you keep up enough to know, are you aware that the
socialist scoundrel that occupies the White House now proclaimed
the month of June the month of June that has just passed, he
proclaimed it LGBT month. Now LGBT is an acronym and it
stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month,
June of 2009. Recently he invited a group of
homosexuals into the White House, including that Episcopal Sodomite
Bishop, Gene Robinson, who the President introduced as, quote,
a very special friend, unquote. And the President said, quote,
he will continue to be an ally and a champion of their agenda,
and will work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, unquote. During his fawning speech, he
chided the fact, quote, that many Americans still hold to
worn attitudes and arguments, unquote. Also, he said that good
and decent people in this country do not yet fully embrace their
gay brothers and sisters, at least not yet, unquote. In a stump speech in August 2008,
he said this. And I'm quoting directly, I believe
that we can achieve equality for the millions of LGBT people
in this country and they will play a major role in bringing
change onto Washington, unquote. Then there's another example.
Are you aware that the NEA, the National Education Agency, has
recently announced support for homosexual marriage, homosexual
adoption, and issues concerning the homosexual agenda? Are you
aware that many large corporations Pepsi and the Ford Foundation,
for two, have put large sums of money in the homosexual agenda. Are you aware that a large Texas
university, TCU University, proposed building a separate gay student
housing, and I think this was scrapped under protest. From
the Houston Chronicle, May 29, 2009, an openly homosexual boy
in a California high school was elected prom queen. Now, not prom king, but prom
queen. The 18-year-old was quoted as
saying he felt invincible when the tiara and the crown were
placed upon his head. He ran as a stunt and the kids
elected him queen because you know how much kids love to tweak
the establishment when they get the opportunity. Now a final
example before we get into the matter. A NASA publication recently,
in June in fact, included a special message from the acting administrator
that begins this way, quote, during June NASA is joining other
organizations throughout the US to observe LGBT Pride Month,
unquote. And it ended with this sentence,
quote, take time to learn. about the contribution of LGTB
Americans and celebrate the diversity that has helped shape and strengthen
NASA and our nation." Let me add to that, that the politicians
right now are passing so-called hate crime laws. I think it has
already gone up from the Congress, if I'm not mistaken, and in that
are provisions against what they call hate speech. And it is designed
to muzzle and to stifle any open criticism about homosexuality. Now I don't need to tell you,
if you work for a large outfit, you have probably already been
to sensitivity training, or you have been told to celebrate cultural
diversity, And you have been versed well in political correctness
if you are with a large organization. What I'm saying is, there are
special laws now being added to the books to protect homosexuals
and homosexuality, which is so contrary to the Word of God,
the Holy Bible. And as we settle into our text
in Leviticus chapter 18, we must remember something because it
is relevant here. And that is that the seventh
commandment, remember, thou shalt not commit adultery. And here we learn how exceedingly
broad is that commandment, and yea, every commandment. As we
see every commandment, enlarged upon in Leviticus, in Numbers,
and in Deuteronomy, and that to great extent, showing the
many ways that a particular commandment is transgressed. And as we shall
learn, under this word or commandment concerning adultery, as one said,
and I quote, Every impure lust is condemned." Everyone relative
to that particular commandment. The commandment, therefore, respecting
adultery is not restricted to the transgression of the marriage
union. The sins of lust are among some
of the strongest that depravity has at its disposal. and often is it made use of in
tempting and leading someone astray. It was Calvin himself
who said on Leviticus chapter 18, and I quote, the madness
of lust has invented several monstrous vices, unquote. Some of the transgressions, therefore,
of the seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery, are
mentioned here in Leviticus chapter 18. We will not take time to
read them, just to refer to them. As for example, all kinds of
incest are forbidden in this chapter. Listen. Verse 6, None
of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to
uncover nakedness that is a relative, or margin has it, his flesh,
or a near relative, or kinsman. Blood kin, in other words. Now
this runs from verse 6 to verse 20. All forms of incest are mentioned
and are forbidden. In verse 20, thou shalt not lie
carnally with thy neighbor's wife. In verse 21 of the chapter,
not sacrifice their children to the pagan god Molech, as some
had done. Verse 22, our text, not to engage
in homosexuality. Verse 23, "...shall not cohabit
with a beast or an animal, neither male nor female shall do such."
That is, the man or the woman. Now, the amazing thing about
these horrific sins is that they were commonly practiced by the
heathen that dwell in the land of Canaan. Look at verse 3. They
were to avoid the sinful practices of both the Egyptians from which
they came and the Canaanites to which they were going. They
were not to bring with them any of the abominations out of Egypt,
nor adopt any of those in the land of Canaan. Again in verse
24, For in all these things the nations are defiled which I cast
out before you." Those Iths that lived there were practitioners
of these sins, and they are warned against them. Verse 27, again,
All these abominations have the men in the land done which were
before you. That is, the Canaanites. All
of these things were practiced and were common among the heathen. And so then do you ask, why are
such things forbidden? What is the harm in expressing
one's sexual preference or orientation as it is said today? Well, number
one, God calls such things abomination. Look at verse 17. Wickedness. Abomination. in verse 22, confusion
or perversion in verse 23, abominations again in verse 26 and 27 and
29, and abominable customs in verse 30 of this chapter. That's one reason. Secondly,
such things are said to be defiling. They defile the people, they
defile society, they defile the land. Now to defile means to
foul, or contaminate, or to pollute, or to make unclean. And there
is a three-fold defiling here that is to be avoided. A. Yourselves. Look at verse 20, 23, 24, and
30. You shall not defile yourself. B, there is the defiling of the
nations, verse 24. And C, the land, in verse 25
and verse 27. That by these things being there
and tolerated, it was a defiling of the land. Thirdly, They bring
the judgment of God down upon them. Verse 25, I visit the iniquity
thereof upon it. Verse 29, They who commit these
abominations shall be cut off. They shall die. Their blood shall
be upon them. Now with all of that behind us,
we focus upon one of these abominations. And that's the one in verse 22. Thou shalt not. It shall not be done. Such is strictly and absolutely
forbidden. It is an abomination unto God. And what is that sin? Well, it
is lying with mankind as with womankind. And the word to lie
with is a euphemism, a simpler, kinder way of saying a thing,
making it less offensive. It is a less offensive way to
say something as here in 1 Samuel 2.22 where it says that Eli's
sons lay with the women at the door of the tabernacle. Genesis
chapter 19, what Lot's daughters did, made their father drunk
and did lie with him. Genesis 39, what Potiphar's wife
tempted Joseph to do. Come lie with me, come lie with
me, she said unto the good man. Except in Leviticus 18 and 22,
it is those of the same gender. Man with man. And in Romans 21-27,
men with men working that which is unseemly. or which is the
unsightful or disgraceful thing. And in Leviticus 18 and 22, and
Leviticus 20 and verse 13, both of them say, they have committed
an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood
shall be upon them. Now this is that sin that is
commonly called sodomy. And it got its name from the
practice of it by the men in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the city's roundabout. And you'll see that in Genesis
chapter 19. You have a good record of that.
For there resided a large number of those men in Sodom who were
sunken into this degrading sin. So that we read of them in Genesis
13, 13, the men of Sodom were sinners before the Lord
exceedingly. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse
20, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is come up before me because
their sin is very grievous. And such people were later called
Sodomites because of the city of Sodom, and that refers to
a male prostitute. And along with harlots, such
were to be excluded from the theocracy of Israel. Deuteronomy 23, 17. You remember
when good King Asa came to the throne and he, quote, took away
the Sodomites out of the land and removed all the idols that
his fathers had made. 1 Kings 15 and 12. And again,
2 Kings 23 and verse 7, King Josiah broke down the houses
of the sodomites that were right by the house of the Lord, where
the women wove hangings for the groves and the tents literally
for Asherah. Now, it is clear here that they
had come right up against the temple proper, and there they
had set up themselves. Sodomy had thrived and was being
practiced there in the very shadow of the house of the Lord. The
temple where the priests served and where sacrifices were made. John Gill wrote something that
I wanted to share on 2 Kings 23 and verse 7. Near the temple were apartments
in which men, the worshippers of idols, prostituted their bodies
to each other, committing that unnatural sin with one another
which has its name from Sodom." Matthew Henry wrote on this passage
again, 2 Kings 23, that some made the father's house a house
of merchandise. Others made it a den of thieves.
But these had made it a brothel." And they did so in the pretense
of religion. There in the house of the Lord,
they practiced all manner of lewdness and of filthiness of
this immoral, sensuous kind. Young King Josiah, having heard
readings from the book of the law, which had been for some
time misplaced, Then reading from it, reformed the order of
the house of the Lord as it ought to be, and drove the sodomites
away." Now would any ask, why this vitriolic criticism of that
manner of life? Why single them out? And by the way, under the bill
passing up through the Congress and going up to the Senate that
I mentioned earlier, this sermon this morning qualifies as hate
speech. The sermon today would be qualified
hate speech in light of the laws that are being passed. These
things are to be remembered about homosexuality. Number one, it
is against the Word of God. It violates the Scripture. God views it as a sin. The Bible never once approved
of such a manner of life. At every mention, it is condemned. And for the Christian, the Bible
is the final appeal. The Word of God never changes
and never will. And even the New Testament condemns
it very strongly. In Romans 1, 26 and 7, that we
might look at. In Jude 6, calling it strange
flesh. 1 Corinthians 6 and 9 says none
of that kind will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Timothy 1 and
verse 10, And 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 6 are some places
in the New Testament that mentions it. So it is against the Word
of God. Secondly, another reason it is
reckoned abominable is that it is unnatural, says the Scripture. It is against nature. It is a
perversion. It is a forsaking of the divine
order that God has established. In the beginning, God made them
male and female. God made them Adam and Eve, and
as the old joke goes, He did not make them Adam and Bruce
or Eve and Heather. God did not create the same but
different. Two genders did He create, a
man and a woman. as the pattern of marriage. Homosexual lust and behavior
is therefore unnatural and a perversion of the natural order. Paul is
very bold in Romans 1, 26 and 27 to strongly condemn homosexuality
as being unnatural and against nature, and he applies it to
both genders, the males and the females. He says that they are
driven by, quote, vile affections, unquote. Dishonorable passions,
we might render that in our English. Degrading passions. They are
aberrations. of that which God has established. They are a sort of a passion
that deviates from the norm. Such is not natural, but unnatural
and even, says Paul, against nature. The same word is used
in Colossians 3 and verse 5, rendered inordinate affection. The word inordinate is the word
pathos and seems to be three times in the New Testament scattered
throughout, each time from Paul. Number one here in Romans 1.26,
translated affection. Number two in Colossians 3 and
5, inordinate affection. And number three, 1 Thessalonians
4 and 5, it is translated lust. And it means, or meant, originally
to suffer or experience, and could be applied to either a
good or a bad sense originally. But as A.T. Robertson said, in
his word pictures in the New Testament, in the three times
that it is used in the New Testament. It is used all three times in
a bad sense. Paul in Romans 1 describes for
us the birth of paganism, which spawned all manner of perverted
behavior, from idolatry to the lowest form of homosexuality. God revealed His power and His
divinity in creation. Men suppressed the truth of God. They held it under in Romans
1 verse 18. They exchanged the glory of God
for the incorruptible God for the image of creatures in Romans
1.23. They exchanged truth for a lie in Romans 1.25. And Romans 1 describes where
that brought them. Three times in Romans 1, we read
something like this. God gave them up. God gave them up. God gave them
up to their lust, in verse 24. God gave them over to vile affections,
in verse 26. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind in verse 28. Now, all of these are judicial
judgments and abandonments. They had perverted the things
of God. They had apostatized from what
God had revealed unto them. And God did therefore bring retribution
upon them for their sins of apostasy. So we read, verse 24, Wherefore,
God gave them up. Verse 26, for this cause God
gave them up. Verse 28, even as they did not
like to retain God's knowledge in their mind, God gave them
over to a mind reprobate incapable of discerning right and wrong. Now granted, homosexuality was
not their only sin. We see that in verse 29 through
32. Yet it is the one that Paul singles out as the best way to
describe the depth of degeneracy to those left under their own
lust and desire. When God, as it were, lays the
reins upon the neck. That's an old expression. You
ride a horse, you lay the reins on the neck. You let it go as
fast or as far in whichever way it wants to go. Just lay the
reins upon the neck. And when God slackens the line,
does not exercise any great restraint against them and in their life,
God works His way deliberately and slowly toward the exposing
of their sins here in chapter 1. Verse 24b, that they dishonor
their bodies between themselves. Murray expressed it the natural
consequences of the operation is, it intensifies and aggravates
itself when there is no restraint placed upon it." Then in verse
26, when given up to vile affection, to passions of dishonor, Paul
shows the result of being swept away by their corrupt lusts when
they are not restrained. And in verse 26 and verse 27,
Paul judiciously, shall I say, judiciously, delicately, modestly,
describes the sin and the desecration involved in homosexuality. First, from the actions of the
woman, and then from the standpoint of the man. But before we look
closer at that, let's notice something that in the Greek,
in verse 26 and verse 27, Paul does not use the Greek term,
women or men, or men and ladies and gentlemen, or anything like
that. Instead, he uses that bare term, females and males. And there is a degrading sense
in that, as when we speak of a male or a female animal. And when we speak of that as
a horse or a dog or a cat, it is a purposeful degrading by
Paul. Males, they're females. First
he speaks of the females. And some commentators point out
a particle here in the Greek which is rendered even. Even,
they're females. The females as well. The females also. and the females
usually, the less likely to partake of degrading conduct of this
sort. What have the females done? They
did change the natural use into that which is contrary to nature. That is, they left the natural
use. In fact, they changed the natural
use to that which is against nature. See the word use here,
U-S-E. which is from a root word that
means to act toward one in a given manner. And the word in Romans
1, 26 and 7, beyond question, refers to the sensual or the
conjugal union, lasciviousness. And in verse 27, Paul is more
detailed when describing the males. They have left the natural
use of the female and are set on fire of lust toward others
of their gender. Now there is a natural lust in
the Scripture. Paul conceives that. 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 and verse 9. That is of a heterosexual sort. So the opposite gender. But the
apostle takes special note of the extent of the homosexual
lust burned inflamed with a sensuous desire of fire not quenched."
Burning, burning, burning. Now, modesty forbids me to give
a description in mixed company and young ears of the bathhouses
frequented by homosexuals in cities like San Francisco. In the Homosexual Network, I
read a description of that. But I should not cross the line
to be too graphic a picture in mixed audiences. But it is a
degrading behavior, if you ever heard of the bathhousing. Now,
when we put our two texts side by side, Leviticus 18.22 and
Leviticus 1 and verse 27, see what we get. Verse 22 of Leviticus,
Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, that is, not
lie in conjugal union, not use a man like a woman, or lie carnally. But in Romans 1.27, that is exactly
what Paul says that they have done. Men with men are males
with males, working that which is unseemly. And from the Romans
1 passage, Paul makes it clear that such sins are prevalent
where there is a perverted idea of the deity. It is a sin that
thrives with idolatry. Let me say that again. It is
a sin that thrives with a false notion of deity or with idolatry. It is fed by having a false view
of God, where the knowledge of God is ignored or is lost. For such sins as fornication,
and homosexuality are or have been associated in the past in
the pagans' act of worship and their festivals and such like. That's why it seems a folly to
speak of a Christian homosexual. Calling a practicing homosexual
a Christian. For Paul says in 1 Corinthians
6, such were some of you, but you are washed. you are cleansed,
you are sanctified. That's in 1 Corinthians 6, 9
through 11. Hear how Jude describes the sin
that we're speaking of this morning in verse 7, giving themselves
over to fornication and going after strange flesh. And it literally is in the past
tense, having gone after different are strange are another flesh."
And the word fornication here in Jude 7 is not the common word
that is used in a lot of other places in the New Testament,
but it just simply refers to uncleanness and unbridled immorality. Strange are different flesh.
In other words, strange from that appointed and ordained by
God. Homo means the same kind. are equal and heteros, different
in kind. And let us note, Jude says in
verse 7, God's destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities round about are set forth as an example to those
that follow after. This teaches us what God thinks
of this behavior. This shows us how God views this
sin. 2 Peter 2 and verse 6, God condemned
them with an overthrow, making them an example of those that
should afterward live ungodly. Sodom and Gomorrah, therefore,
is a monument to God's detestation of this sin. If Scripture is
true, then the society that accepts and legalizes and celebrates
gayness, that accepts all of that as good, that society is
headed into a deep debauchery. And some form of God's judgment
is likely to fall upon that nation. I wonder, are you aware that
the politicians again are passing what are called a so-called hate
crime bill, making the punishment stiffer if you do something to
a homosexual than if you bopped a heterosexual upside the head
with a baseball bat. And it includes hate speech.
And it is giving traction. It is giving traction. Remember
of late, you can't forget this incident. It was everywhere.
A beauty contestant in California, I think it was, where else but
California, but she was asked during whatever they called it,
a question about marriage. Should it be between a man and
a woman, or could homosexuals marry? And she claims to be a
Christian, and so she said, I believe that marriage is between a man
and a woman. And you remember the firestorm
that broke out over there? It spread like a wildfire all
over the country. It was on every time you looked.
The homosexuals were having a fit. They called her everything they
could think of, and she lost her job. She is put out of it. You see, these bills are designed
to hush all criticism, calling any who disagree with homosexuality
a homophobe. We've got a new national disease
now. You can't even criticize. And
this is the way groups do. This is their common tactic.
If you criticize something a black is doing, you're a racist. If
you criticize something a homosexual is doing, you're a homophobe.
If you criticize something that a Jew is doing, you're an anti-Semite. And that's the way they shut
us up. And they won't even let us disagree. And these are the
ways that they keep from it. Now, the argument is made by
some homosexuals that preaching against homosexuality will incite
violence against some of them. Now, let's take that rule to
its extremes. By this rule, we could not even
preach that all are sinners, could we? We'd have to do like
Joel Osteen. Say, Larry, I don't get into
that. I just try to help hurting people.
I don't get into that, Larry. But that's the way we would be.
We couldn't even preach against that men are sinners if it incited
violence against them. Then we would be guilty of a
hate crime. Let us leave their judgment to
God. Please do not go out and harm one. You'll get twice the
penalty in jail as somebody else would if he hit you. But let
us leave the judgment of God to God and stand upon the Word
of God. Let God be true, however, in
the matter, and every man a liar. And I'll close by saying this.
No telling what we might see in the next few years along this
line. No telling what we might see
right here in our country. Alright, thank you for your kind
attention, and I guess I was a little pithy, but I tried to
be modest and scriptural at the same time. Let's stand for a
word of prayer, please.