The Scripture reading for today is found in Jude 3–4.
01. Creeping Men
Jude was wanting to write the more pleasant subject of
salvation, but he found “it necessary to write to
you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)
Why? Because “For certain men have crept
(or in the Greek slip in secretly as if by a side door[1], sneak in[2]) in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Jude 4) That word “lewdness” in Jude 4
means disregarding sexual restraints.
When the Supreme Court of the United States of America made
their decision to allow marriage between members of the same sex, what was your
reaction? Were you sad? Downcast? Afraid? Were you joyful? Did you put the
rainbow filter on your Facebook profile picture?
02. The Bible on
Sodomy
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we think personally, but
what we should be concerned about is what does God think of all this? What does
His inspired Word (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17) say? As with any subject,
we need to remember that the Bible claims to be completely sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
“inspiration of God”
(2 Timothy 3:16) should be translated
as “Every writing Divinely inspired is
profitable for doctrine…” For, the sacred writings, the Scriptures
alone are God-breathed (G2315 θεόπνευστος thĕŏpnĕustŏs,
theh-op´-nyoo-stos), they are NOT based off of or interpreted by
dreams, visions, life stories or life experiences.
Jesus said in John 10:35 that
“Scripture cannot be broken”. The Book of
Hebrews opens with this declaration…“God, who at
various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the
prophets, has in these last days spoken to
us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He
made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1–2)
David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said, “The entirety of Your word is
truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” (Psalm
119:160) Now, with that its been established that the Word of God is
to be our authority in all things, and that means no matter what our
experiences are, or what we think, or what others think, it is the final
authority, and it is our standard.
So what does the Word of God say about Sodomite marriage? People will say that Jesus never said anything
about homosexuality. Well here in Matthew 19:3–6,
we see that our Lord affirms that Genesis has the standard for marriage between
men and women.
Matthew
19:6 “what God has joined together”
or “hath
yoked together,” as oxen in the plough, where each must pull equally in
order to bring it on. Among the ancients, they put a yoke upon the
necks of a new married couple, or chains on their arms, to shew that they were
to be one, closely united, and pulling equally together in all the concerns of
life.[3]
The authority of Jesus speaks directly to our situation
today. Jesus, who is God incarnate, God in the flesh, says that marriage is
between a man and a woman. When Jesus quoted Genesis (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24;
Genesis 5:2)
about marriage being between a man and a woman, He was making a statement that
God is the Creator of marriage, which means only He is the One who can truly
classify what marriage really is. When mankind defiantly shakes their fist in
the face of God, saying that marriage is between whoever loves one another,
they are treading on holy ground. They are much like the group of people in Genesis 11:1-9,
who wanted to build a tower to try to get to Heaven without God. When Jesus
quoted Genesis (Genesis
1:27; Genesis 2:24; Genesis 5:2) about marriage being between a
man and a woman, He was making a statement that God is the Creator of mankind,
and only He can define what makes us male or female.
And with the revelation of Bruce Jenner wanting to be called “Caitlyn”, and please do
not call him any feminine pronouns, for his DNA is that of a male, no matter
what he adds to his chest or takes away. So with Bruce Jenner, transgenderism is
gaining traction. Bruce Jenner will tell you that God is not the determiner of
your gender and identity, but you are! You do what feels right for you, and
don’t let anybody, including your Creator, tell you differently! In both homosexual marriage
and transgenderism, the world refuses to acknowledge the Word of God, which we
saw is sufficient and the final authority on all things (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The world says, if you will
not capitulate to allowing homosexual marriage, then we will sue you, campaign
against you, get legislation passed so that you have to pay huge fines, shut
down your business and ostracize you from society, all the while calling you a
bigit, narrow minded, and intolerant.
And just as Jesus went back to Scripture, specifically from
Genesis, we will do the same. The Bible always tells us that sodomite activity is
a sin.
In Genesis 19:1-29, we see the well-known story
of Sodom and Gomorrah and YHWH’s judgment on it.
Genesis 19:1–5 (cf. Genesis 13:13; Genesis 18:20) Genesis 19:5 “know them carnally.” In the Hebrew it is (H3045 יָדַע yâdaʿ; a to know[4] intimately (cf. Genesis 4:25).[5]
The men of the city wanted to have sodomite relations with them.
Genesis 19:6–8 In that time and culture that when people
came in and stayed with you, there was an expectation that you will protect them
no matter the cost.
Genesis 19:9–11 Here we see something interesting, for it is
the same scenario essentially being played out today. Whenever you try to speak
about the issue of sodomy, when you refuse to give in to it and point them to
the Truth, the response is usually, “Who are you to judge me!” So when
people say this to you today, take heart, for Peter tells us that Lot was a
righteous man (2 Peter 2:7). In 2 Peter 2:7 it mentions “filthy conduct”, which in the Greek (G766 ἀσέλγεια asĕlgĕia) means indecent
conduct.[6]
So don’t worry about what others say, you are just being faithful to the Word
of God, and you are calling sin what it is: sin! YHWH spared Lot and his family
because He is a merciful God (Genesis 19:16).
Look what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah in judgment for their perverseness (Genesis 19:24–25).
Matthew Vines, who is known for his You Tube video that went
viral, “The Gay Debate:
The Bible and Homosexuality” and his book released in 2014, “God
and the Gay Christian”. He
held a four-day conference in October 2013 at Asbury United Methodist
Church in Prairie Village, Kansas where he handpicked fifty Christians, and
said that “The
goal of the conference was to be training Christians who are in churches that
don't currently support LGBT people and to give them the biblical tools and
knowledge that they need to go back to their churches and have constructive,
persuasive conversations with other believers on these issues,”[7]
Vines,
and others like him, often state that it is alright to be a “gay
Christian” and they claim that there are only six passages in the Bible that
address sodomy: Genesis
19:1-29, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13,
Romans
1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10. When you take
the time to examine these passages, you will notice that they conveniently
leave out the surrounding verses and they are not defining terms properly.
Matthew Vines, among others, claim that Ezekiel 16:49 proves that the
judgment on Sodom was because of their lack of hospitality not because of their
unnatural sexual sin.[8]
It is interesting that Matthew Vines and others leave out the very next verse,
which states: “And they were haughty and
committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” (Ezekiel 16:50) Of course it was very
inhospitable of the men of Sodom to want to gang rape Lot’s visitors (Genesis 19:4–5).
But let’s look at Jude 7-8, a passage that they forget to
mention. Let’s start in Jude 5 to get some context…
Jude 5–8 But
Jude makes it clear why Sodom was judged. It was because they were pursuing “strange flesh” (Jude
7) or unnatural desires. The Greek word for “strange” (Jude 7)
is (G2087 ἕτερος) hĕtĕrŏs,[9]
like in the word heterosexual, which means having sex with the opposite gender.
The phrase “strange flesh” (Jude 7) describes horrible licentiousness, not simply with women not their wives or in
other nations, but even unnatural uses (Romans 1:27) for which the very word “sodomy” is used
(Genesis
19:4–11).[10]
Jude 8 “defile the flesh” (G3392 μιαίνουσι)
means to cause the purity of something to
be violated by immoral behavior, defile[11]. It is written in the
Present active indicative of (G3392) μιναινω, old verb, to stain,
with sin (Titus
1:15) as here. 2 Peter 2:10 has μιασμου.[12] Jude 7 is essentially confirming the
centuries old interpretation that the judgment placed by God on Sodom was
because of their sin of sodomy.
Genesis 2:18–25 In both Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 2:20, we see the phrase “a helper
comparable”, and most of the time, especially at weddings you will
hear that Adam was in need of a suitable or corresponding helper. But in the
Hebrew it is a very graphic word picture, and it implies that there wasn’t a
helper who was created to be the direct opposite of Adam, or that there was no
helper who could interlock with him, one that would complement him physically. So
we see here that God created humans, male and female (Genesis 1:27) and that the two
would “become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24)
physically. This is why the human antimony is designed and works the way that
it does, where a man and a woman have interlocking pieces.
So as human sinfulness becomes greater, because we are all
born “dead in trespasses and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1) humans abandon the natural
order in which God has made them and they instead burn in lust towards those of
the same sex (cf. Romans 1:26; 1
Corinthians 6:13; 1 Corinthians 6:18;
Ephesians 4:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:4). Sodomy is included in
the Old Testament laws of sexual immorality, which include fornication and
adultery (cf. Leviticus 18:1-30; Leviticus 20:1-27). For more information, you
can get the book The Bible and Homosexual Practice by Robert Gagnon
5 sub-points about marriage...
01. It’s God Ordained (Genesis 2:18; Genesis
2:24)
02. It’s Heterosexual (Man and Woman) (Genesis 2:22; Genesis
2:24)
Genesis 2:22 Only a being made from adam can and ought to
become someone with whom adam longs to reunite in sexual intercourse and
marriage, a reunion that not only provides companionship but restores adam to
his original wholeness. The woman is not just “like himself” but “from himself”
and thereby a complementary fit to himself. She is a complementary sexual
“other.”[13]
Now we looked at how Jesus already quoted Genesis 2:24 in Matthew
19:5, so let’s at it a little closer:
Genesis 2:24 The Hebrew word for “leave” in Genesis
2:24 (G5800 עָזַב ʿâzab, aw-zab´) means to loosen,[14] to depart from.[15]
The Hebrew word for “joined” in
Genesis 2:24 can also be translated
as “shall
be cemented to his wife,” as the Hebrew (G1692 דָּבַק dâbaq) implies; a beautiful metaphor,
forcibly intimating that nothing but death can separate them.[16]
Genesis 2:24 “and they shall
become one flesh.” The union of a man and woman in marriage is of
two bodies that complement one another anatomically.
Let’s take a look at 1
Corinthians 7:3–4, where Paul
clearly here is talking about marital intimacy. But notice this, in 1 Corinthians 7:5 It is not appropriate that a
man and his wife deprive each other of marital intimacy, except if you are
setting aside some time for fasting and prayer. Some in Corinth were trying to
practice celibacy within marriage. Apparently this refraining from sex within
marriage was a unilateral decision of one partner, not a mutually agreed-on
decision (1
Corinthians 7:3–4). Such a practice sometimes led to immorality on
the part of the other mate (1 Corinthians 7:5b; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:2). Paul
commanded that they stop this sort of thing unless three conditions were met:
(a) The abstention from sexual intercourse was to be a matter of mutual consent
on the part of both husband and wife. (b) They were to agree beforehand on a
time period at the end of which normal intercourse would be resumed. (c) This
refraining was to enable them to devote themselves to prayer in a concentrated
way.[17]
This type of sexual deprivation within marriage provides an easy means for
Satan to tempt people.[18]
Satan—who often thrusts in his temptations to unholy thoughts amidst the
holiest exercises.[19]
So we see in the marriage union that it is not appropriate for one spouse to
withhold themselves to their spouse, and notice that Paul, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit mentions that it is between a man and a woman,
and not to of the same gender.
03. It’s Permanent (Matthew 19:6;
cf. Mark 9:10;
Romans 7:2;
1
Corinthians 7:10-14; Ephesians 5:28)
Matthew 19:6 “has joined together” or “hath yoked together,” as
oxen in the plough, where each must pull equally in order to bring it on. Among
the ancients, they put a yoke upon the necks of a new married couple, or chains
on their arms, to shew that they were to be one, closely united, and pulling
equally together in all the concerns of life.[20]
04. It’s a picture of Jesus’ Relationship With The Church (Ephesians 5:23–33)
05. Marriage is Honorable (Hebrews
13:4)
The Greek word for “honorable”
here in Hebrews 13:4 means to held in honor, respected (τιμή 2c) τίμιος ὁ γάμος.[21]
In the Greek, “and the bed
undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4) is Μιαινω την κοιτην [Miainō tēn koitēn] is a common expression for adultery.[22]
Hebrews 13:4 “but fornicators
and adulterers God will judge.” Fornication means unmarried people
having sex. Adultery means those who are married but having sex with someone
other than their spouse.
Paul writes about this as well in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11. In the Greek, “nor
homosexuals” (1 Corinthians 6:9) is G3120 μαλακοὶ malakoi
(ma-law-koi), which means abusers of themselves as women, meaning they
are the receiver in a sodomite act. In the Greek, “nor
sodomites” (1 Corinthians 6:9) is G733 ἀρσενοκοῖται
arsenokoitai (ar-say-no-koi-tay) which means abusers of themselves as men,
meaning that they are the dominate in a sodomite act. This shows us
from the Greek that a person CANNOT have a sexual orientation, and that the act
of sodomy is sin, substituting what God had ordained for sex.
Paul says in Romans 1:18-32 that because they reject the
Word of God they have a dishonorable and degrading passion.
This passage tells us that because of sin, they choose to
worship themselves and not God (Romans 1:24–27),
and because of sin these same people become sodomites, murderers, disobedient
to parents, evil in mind, envious etc.
Romans 1:18–32 True, there are some people who tend to
struggle with sodomite struggles, but it’s the same as those who struggle with
violence, or struggle with unforgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15). But that is not an excuse to
continue to choose to sin by giving into your sinful desires.
03. Statistics
You can go online and get a PDF file of the Top
Health Issues for LGBT Populations Information & Resource Kit
published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
I am
going to go through some statistics here: This report, issued by the
Obama Administration, tells us that Lesbians are at significantly higher risk
for developing breast cancer than heterosexual women. Risk factors for breast
cancer among lesbians include fewer full-term pregnancies, fewer mammograms
and/or clinical breast exams, and being overweight. [23] Traditionally, lesbians and bisexual women have been less likely to
bear children and, as a result, may not fully benefit from hormones released
during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
These hormones are believed to protect women against different types of
cancers. [24][25] Sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs) occur at a high rate among sexually active gay men.[26]
Men who have sex with men are 44 more times likely to be diagnosed with
the HIV virus.[27] Data show that bisexual adults (47.4 percent) are significantly more
likely to report experiencing intimate partner violence than heterosexual
adults (17.2 percent). [28][29] Gay and
bisexual men are estimated to be 17 times more likely to develop anal cancer
than heterosexual men. [30] Other studies have suggested that bisexuals are much more likely to
report higher levels of self-harm, thoughts of suicide, and suicidal attempts
than heterosexuals, gay men, and lesbians. [31]
[32] A recent study also found that a significantly higher percentage of
bisexual adults(13.3 percent) reported being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
with their lives as compared to straight adults (5.2 percent). [33]
[34]
When SCOTUS made their decision on Sodomite marriage, many
Christians and conservatives declared that America now will face the judgment
of God. But according to Romans 1:18–32,
the fact that we as a nation have made Sodomite Marriage legal means that we
are already under the judgment of God. The Word of God pronounces judgment on
any nation that labels evil as good and good as evil (Isaiah 5:20). The Word of God calls
homosexuality sinful,
abominable, unnatural, and evil, and when this statement was made by SCOTUS, many
of us could say along with David, “Rivers of
water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law.” (Psalm 119:136) Romans 1:18-32 teaches that rampant
homosexuality in a society is a sign of God’s wrath upon that culture. Sexual
rebellion being embraced by a society is in itself the judgment of God. It is
both a mark of Gods judgment and it is the judgment of God on an ungodly
society. A denial of God leads to a denial of God in all aspects of your life. So
when a church or individual becomes “gay affirming” it means that they have abandoned
Scripture.
I am against so-called “gay marriage” because it is not gay
and it’s not a marriage according to the Biblical definition of marriage.The
decision by SCOTUS it shouldn’t have taken any of us by surprise, for we have
been seeing this change throughout the recent years. But there is hope, for
when Paul wrote about the judgment on mankind when they worship themselves
rather than God and become sexual deviants among other sins, Paul tells us this
in Romans 3:9–26, that means that those of us who use the Bible
as our standard (2 Timothy 3:16-17), we are not to retreat from this wicked
and immoral cultural and we are to herald the news that this world is getter
darker and darker, judgment is already here and comig, and like Noah, we are to
be “a preacher of righteousness” (In
the Greek it is literally “a righteousness
preacher” (δικαιοσύνης κήρυκα) 2
Peter 2:5).
[1] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jud 4). Nashville, TN: Broadman
Press.
[2] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 774). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[3] Blayney, B.,
Scott, T., & Torrey, R. A. with Canne, J., Browne. (n.d.). The Treasury
of Scripture knowledge (Vol. 2, p. 14). London: Samuel Bagster and Sons.
[4] Strong, J. (2009). A
Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible
(Vol. 2, p. 47). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[5] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)
(electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[6] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 141). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[7]
http://www.christianpost.com/news/50-hand-picked-christians-trained-to-convince-churches-to-re-interpret-scriptures-gay-boundaries-105342/
[8] God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmp6lLct-fQ&feature=youtu.be
[9] Strong, J. (2009). A
Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible
(Vol. 1, p. 33). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[10] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jud 7). Nashville, TN: Broadman
Press.
[11] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 650). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[12] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jud 8). Nashville, TN: Broadman
Press.
[13] Gagnon, Robert
A. J. (2010-10-01). The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics
(Kindle Locations 969-974). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition. Contra Whitaker,
"Creation and Human Sexuality," 9.
[14] Strong, J. (2009). A
Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible
(Vol. 2, p. 86). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[15] Whitaker, R., Brown, F., Driver, S. R. (Samuel R.,
& Briggs, C. A. (Charles A. (1906). The
Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: from
A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver
and Charles Briggs, based on the lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius. Boston; New
York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
[16] Blayney, B., Scott, T., & Torrey, R. A. with
Canne, J., Browne. (n.d.). The Treasury
of Scripture knowledge (Vol. 2, p. 14). London: Samuel Bagster and Sons.
[17] Lowery, D. K. (1985). 1 Corinthians. In J. F. Walvoord
& R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible
Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 517).
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[18] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D.,
& Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife
Study Bible (1 Co 7:5). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[19] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the
Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 274). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[20] Blayney, B., Scott, T., & Torrey, R. A. with
Canne, J., Browne. (n.d.). The Treasury
of Scripture knowledge (Vol. 2, p. 14). London: Samuel Bagster and Sons.
[21] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 1006). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
[22] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Heb 13:4). Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press.
[25] National Women’s Health Information
Center. (n.d.) Lesbian and bisexual health. From http://womenshealth.gov/faq/lesbian-health.cfm
(accessed May 31, 2011).
[29] VanKim, N.A. & Padilla,
J.L. (2010). New Mexico’s progress in collecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender health data and its implications for addressing health disparities.
Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Department of Health, Chronic Disease Prevention
and Control Bureau. From http://nmhealth.org/erd/healthdata/pdf/2010_LGBT_Report.pdf
(accessed May 31, 2011).
[32] Dobinson, C. (2007) Top ten bisexual
health issues. As cited in Miller, M., André, A., Ebin, J., and Bessonova, L.
(2007).
Bisexual health: An introduction and
model practices for HIV/STI prevention programming. New York: National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, the Fenway Institute at Fenway Community
Health, and BiNet USA
[34] Kim, N.A. & Padilla, J.L.
(2010). New Mexico’s progress in collecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender health data and its implications for addressing health disparities.
Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Department of Health, Chronic Disease Prevention
and Control Bureau. From http://nmhealth.org/erd/healthdata/pdf/2010_LGBT_Report.pdf(accessed
May 31, 2011).
