Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. All sin, regardless of the so-called
degree of it, stems from the same source, a well which flows
quite freely in the very heart of every man who is born of a
woman. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. When
a man is given a true understanding of this fact, he will be humbled
in the dust before a holy God and abandon all hope of producing
any sort of righteousness which might be considered acceptable
in his sight. Yet until that occurs, the very
nature of sin will cause him to go about to establish his
own righteousness by viewing his purity relative to others.
By doing so, he denies the true standard of righteousness, which
is alone found in the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ,
and in so doing despises the righteousness of Christ. As long
as a man can take any sort of satisfaction in himself relative
to the actions of others, he can in no way submit himself
to the righteousness of God revealed in Jesus Christ. For they, being
ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. The activity of sodomy, or as
it is most often referred to in our politically correct society
as the practice of homosexuality, is indeed spoken of with the
harshest of condemnation by the Lord. It can in no wise be considered
an acceptable practice by any who would believe the Bible to
be the Word of God. Yet often religious men will
rise up in righteous indignation at such practices and intone
that God will bring judgment on those who condone, practice,
or approve of such. Yet the Scripture indicates that
such practices are not the cause of God's judgment, but are rather
the result of it. For this cause God gave them
up unto vile affections. What was the sin of Sodom? The
sin of Sodom is the very sin of all men. And the judgment
of God upon that city, by giving them over to reprobate minds,
removing his restraints, and letting them fulfill their basest
desires, merely reveals the certainty of the destruction of all mankind,
apart from the mercy of God, who has imputed the righteousness
of Christ to that remnant which he is determined to save. Ezekiel
clearly reveals that the sin of Sodom is the pride of man,
which causes him to disregard the plain commandment of God
and to embrace the lusts of his flesh and delight himself in
those things that are contrary to godliness and ultimately even
nature itself. Can any say he is not in this,
a sodomite? Is not the pride of life at the
root of all of man's sin? And is there any who by nature
is not afflicted with this very disease? The very best of men
are wicked by nature, even as Isaiah reveals. But we're all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. And we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth
upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
For thou hast hid thy face from us, and has consumed us because
of our iniquities. When men judge themselves or
anyone else worthy of favor in God's eyes by any means other
than the substitutionary righteousness of Jesus Christ, they have spat
in the face of him who is angry with the wicked every day. They
do disregard the very work of Jesus Christ, who came to demonstrate
true righteousness by fulfilling the law in its jot and tittle
and dwelling among men as the only man without sin. The only
thing that keeps any man from outward debauchery and baseness
of the foulest kind is the restraining work of the Spirit of God. The
men of Sodom did indeed demonstrate such a condition, wherein they
were given over to their own flesh even as the Scripture describes,
and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working
that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense
of their error which was meat or feeding. Oh, you who are righteous
in your own eyes, do you think that you are any less a sinner
than those who dwelt in Sodom and received the just reward
of their error? I tell you, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish. There is only one true standard
of righteousness which has ever been set forth among men. He
is that one who was tempted in all points like as we are, but
was yet without sin. He is that one who hung between
heaven and earth as an offering for the sin of his people, imputing
their sin to himself and his righteousness to them. Unless
you stand in his righteousness, you shall die in your sins. He
has demonstrated his purpose to save unworthy wretches, and
does even presently command them to come unto him, that they might
find rest unto their weary souls. As I live, saith the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked
turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? If you would like
a free transcript of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.