Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P9 (11-06-19)
Synopsis
In this world we live in, of political correctness, there is a strong pull to cave into the thinking of the world. You also have television that tries to convince you how fun something is. You have the soap operas and the commercials after big events such as the Super Bowl. All these influences that tempt us to not hold onto the knowledge of the truth. But we are instructed in scripture to hold onto truth.
So Bob shares truth from the scriptures. Currently we are studying Romans 1:28-32. This is what God says about these matters, of what perversion is, such as homosexual activity, and how it forms in the human heart.
We see someone who is caught in sin, a sin as devastating as homosexuality. Now, it is sin because that is what God calls it. God calls it perversion. Adultery is sin. Worry is sin. A Christian can be caught up in any sinful behavior, even the sin of homosexuality. All that it takes is to listen to the voice of Satan and give into a lie that this is something I have never done. You hear the deceiving voice, “Oh, what fun it might be”. Does Satan ever tell you what devastating consequences there are? Does television ever show you that that fling or affair you had will tear your family apart, or that one drunken moment will steal, kill and destroy?
Is it not interesting that the world redefines terms. Instead of calling someone a drunkard, he is called an alcoholic. Instead of calling sex outside of marriage adultery, it is called an affair or a fling. Why is that? If I can rename something, then I can redefine it. I begin to lie to myself that it is not sin even though God calls it sin. I have darkened my heart. My futile mind has become darkened. So instead of calling sex with another person of the same sex a perversion, we call such a person a homosexual, and if that term is not socially acceptable, we just say he is gay or born that way. In this politically “correct” world, it is called an alternative lifestyle. That is not what God calls it.
So if someone is to be helped out of a trap they are in, we have to work in the realm of reality, not fantasies. We have to operate with truth and in truth. Did not Jesus say the truth shall set you free? The truth is that homosexual activity is what God calls it, sin and perversion. So if a person is caught up in sexual perverse activity, then in order for him to be helped, he has to hear truth. He has to be reached with truth.
Galatians 6:1-3
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
If he is is persuaded that he is born that way and says to you, “Do not give me that garbage” then you have to give them over to their perversion, as what Romans says God does, and hopefully some day they will come to their senses. But if he says that he knows what he is doing is wrong and tells you he cannot stop, then he is a person who needs to hear truth and is ready to hear it so he can be set free.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Now, so many times a person who reaches out with truth is called a bigot or a hater. That is the furthest from the truth. The person who shares truth is doing the most loving thing he should be doing. It is not loving to lie to somebody. Love is when you tell them the truth and letting that truth set them free. God says He will turn your heart of stone into a heart of flesh. He will change you from the inside out and provide you a new way of living.
Ezekiel 36:26
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Do not give into the lie of the world that tries to silence you, that tries to name call you as gay-bashers or haters. You must hold onto truth. When a nation does not hold onto truth then it is on a path of self destruction. So too is how Rome fell, as recorded by historians. Good people refuse to do nothing. We sit back and we allow television shows to come on to promote homosexuality. The Christian world ought to ban the sales of whoever is sponsoring those things across the United States.
Sadly, when perversion takes root in a person, he not only knows what he is doing is wrong, he continues to do it anyway, and teaches others to do the same. That is called promotion or recruitment. Young boys are recruited into perversion by those who are perverts. A pervert wants his lifestyle to be accepted. He wants sin to be accepted. So in order for him not to feel so bad, he suppresses truth in unrighteousness. Then he recruits others to accept this lifestyle as an alternative lifestyle so that the more people that are doing it, he does not feel so bad. His conscience becomes seared. So there is a big market to sell sinful behavior under a different name.
That is why you need to watch closely your children under your care. Parents and grandparents, there are those who are deliberately into recruiting your innocent child into sinful behavior. Bob testifies of young boys recruited by a teacher or someone in the choir or some camp activity, and the boy got recruited, later contacted AIDS and is dead today. Certainly you have heard about young boys recruited by priests in the Catholic church by perverts, and reports of such devastating consequences.
Hold onto truth. Know the truth. Let the truth change your heart. The truth shall set you free. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Get into God’s word to get to know the author, the one who wants you to live in total confidence in Him who loves you perfectly. He is the one you go to to know right from wrong, good from evil. He created you and He knows how you were designed to function. Go find out God’s way and stop trying to do things your own way apart from Him. Truth is what God calls truth. When God calls something perversion, it is perversion. When God calls something sin, it is sin. You may not be able to carry out the good you want to do or stop the wrong that you are doing, but never get to the point of calling something other than what God calls it. When you operate in truth, when you come into the light, you are in the position to ask God to change you from within. He will live in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.
Transcript
The act of homosexuality, what is that? It is having sex with the same sex. That is called perversion. It is not called, “born that way”. It is called perversion. When I continue to be involved in perversion, I become a pervert. It is called perversion.
I want to tell you something. I do not care if my son, and thank God he is not, is a homosexual. I do not care if my son was a homosexual, I would teach this message. You do not interpret the bible through a bias. All of a sudden you have somebody in the family who has got this, so you say, “I am going to stop teaching this”. Truth is truth regardless of who is engaged in error. You cannot take these things through your bias. I get letters from people who are about to cut my head off because of what I am teaching on this. So they decide to go off on error and abandon truth. They abandon truth in order to hold onto error.
I am telling you the truth. I am not knocking people. I am knocking the acts of people. God loves people regardless of their sexual preference. He loves you. He died for you. He was raised from the dead for you but He says what you are doing is perversion. When God says it is perversion, it is perversion. He also says in the bible that anyone who teaches that godliness is a means to financial gain is perversion, a person of corrupt mind.
1 Timothy 6:2-5
2 These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
So you can call either one of those perversion. It is a perversion of what is true. Folks, you cannot sidestep this stuff. We live in a day in age where men are scared to death to teach truth about the bible. It is a disgrace. So I am not knocking homosexuals. I am knocking homosexual behavior. I am calling what God calls it, perversion. So someone says to me here, “you are a bigot”. So I say, “You are a pervert”. So now that we slandered each other, let us go on with a conversation. It says they will receive the due penalty for their perversion. From God? No. There is now no condemnation for those awaiting Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
In our own soul, we have even today, that AIDS would be a part of that receiving the due penalty for their error. God does not give you AIDS. Your partner does. People live with this deep, deep awareness that I hope nobody finds out. “I am living a lie. I am living a lifestyle that I know nobody likes.” So guess what took place. An agenda took place.
Romans 1:32
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
An agenda among people who practice homosexuality takes place, to approve of those who practice them. “We are going to have an agenda to have the world accept this. I was born this way. It is not sin. I was born this way.” Is that not what you hear? That is a lie from the pit of hell. So a movement started. It got into the media. It became glorified. I do not know about you, but it turns on my stomach to see a bunch of guys kissing each other. It is perversion. It is contrary to human nature. God did not make you that way. You have gotten into it by promotion. You certainly cannot propagate, so you must recruit.
And so we have acceptance, an approval. It has gotten into our political realm and now the church. So now we have gay bishops and we will have gay pastors and we will even have gay churches. People have said they go to church. Well, I know a lot of singles who go to church looking for mates. That is the only reason they go to church. They go to the singles department. There are a lot of good looking guys and girls there. I might find a mate. What is the difference? Going to church does not mean a thing. I went to church all my life and did not know the Lord from a flag pole. The issue is what is taught in that church. If I am going to teach that homosexuality is okay then I am going to have to say this bible is bunk. And I would have to say this God of the bible does not know what He is talking about. So I do not know what God you are talking about. So you have your own god. So you go to church and read the bible. You just took God out of the bible and have made your own. You have a straw man you are worshiping. For the God of the bible says this is perversion. And you are worshiping in a group, all hanging together, with homosexuals there, saying this is love.
Romans 1:28
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God,
So here is the operative phrase, “the knowledge of God”. So these fools are saying, “I know what the knowledge of God is. So I know what the word of God says, but I do not want to hang onto it. It is old fashioned.”
Romans 1:28
so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
Did God make their mind depraved? No. He just said “I am going to quit teaching you. You do not want to learn”. If somebody is around somebody and they do not want to learn, what do you do? You say, “Well, wallow in your ignorance!” What else do you do if they will not be taught? Will they listen? So if they do not want to be taught, then you just turn them over to whatever they want to do. That is what God has done. So they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so He gave them over to a depraved mind. So what happens? Your mind has become depraved? Why? You are not thinking truth. You are thinking error. You are living a lifestyle that is totally contrary to who you really are. So He gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 1:29
29 They have become filled
Folks, this is not sitting down and saying “I wonder which one of these things I am”. This is saying they have become filled. Do you remember what it means to be filled, to be filled with the Spirit? Being filled means to be controlled by. Being filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit. They have become controlled by every kind of wickedness.
Romans 1:29
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
So when you say to God, “You do not know what You are talking about. I am going to determine what is right and wrong, good and evil. I do not need You”, your mind becomes depraved and you become controlled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. People become full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. Go talk to any person on the police force. They will tell you it does not come from me. It comes from my talking to them. The most heinous crimes they will ever go into are in the homosexual community. The most heinous crimes are in that community. Why? You become controlled by envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are mad at people. You are deceitful.
Romans 1:29-32
They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
They are calling good evil and evil good. God says pity those who call evil good and good evil.
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Yet today, what are you as a Christian, if you are going to identify yourself as a Christian, calling homosexuality a perverse act? What are you called? Bigots. Am I right or wrong? “You are one of those narrow minded people who are not accepting.” That is the big word today, isn’t it? Accepting what? Am I accepting you? Yes. Am I accepting your lifestyle? No. Will I ever accept your lifestyle? No.
Think about this for a moment. Let us just take some of the ten commandments. You do not have to take them all. Let’s just take some. Imagine someone saying these things. “Why don’t we have an atheist pride day to march on Disney Land?” “Why don’t we have a parent haters pride day?” “Why don’t we have a murderer’s pride day?” “I just killed six people. I am so proud of myself. Let us have a parade.” “Let us have an adulterer’s pride day.” The only problem is there would not be anybody watching on television. “Let us get all the thief”s together and have a thief pride day.” “Let us have the liars pride day. That would be a good one. Let us get all the liars and we are walking on Disney Land up and down the streets and be proud of being big liars.” “Why not have a coveter’s pride day?”
Folks, is adultery sin? Is there anyone in there that thinks you are born that way, except out of Adam. I guess you can go back to him and blame Adam. So someone says “I was born that way.” Does anyone think adultery is not sin? What about fornication? Is it sin or not? Then why would not homosexuality be sin? It seems to me you are doing the same thing except with someone of the same sex. Am I right or wrong? Why is one sin and the other is an alternative lifestyle. Can anyone answer me that question? Why is one okay and the other not? If you are fornicating and committing adultery, do you get your friends together and brag about it and talk about how we ought to get a parade going? I hope not! Now folks, I want to tell you something. In order to justify this, something has to be going on not only in their heads but also in people’s heads who accept that. Something is wrong. Something is deeply wrong in a country that has fallen so deep away from God’s standard that they say, “Hey, if you do not like that you are a bigot”. That is a shame, but it is true.
If I can rename something, then I can redefine it. Instead of being drunk, you are an alcoholic. A drunk is sinful. An alcoholic isn’t sin. Instead of being a homosexual, which is sin, I am gay, “born that way”. All you have to do is rename something and you can redefine it. That is what happened.
Romans 1:29-32
They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy
So it says they became arrogant. What do you do when you are arrogant? You say, “Hey, look at me. I am homosexual. I am gay.”
Boastful. Is that true? You say, “Hey, I have something to be proud of, here.” What is something to be proud of in how you have sex? Are you a topper or a bottomer? What is it about you that makes you prideful in the way you have sex? I do not understand this. I cannot get my arms around any of that thinking behind any of this. But someone thinks there is something to be proud of.
They want to gain acceptance. There is an agenda, and a big one, well financed. There is an agenda. The agenda is to get everybody accepting. Accepting what? Sin. Then why do we not accept adultery? You cannot be put in jail for adultery but you can sure go through the divorce courts easily.
Theft. You say, “Oh, just accept that because I like to steal? I was born that way. I used to take my brother’s cookies away from him. Do not blame me for that.
Lie. You learn to lie before you talk. You tell a child who cannot talk yet. You ask him if he took the cookie? He shakes his head no when clearly there are cookie crumbs everywhere. You say, “Why don’t you just accept all that? Don’t teach a child not to lie. Teach him to be accepting.”
Do you know what happens to a country in the shape we are in? It goes on a downward spiral to destruction. Maybe that is why the United States is not mentioned in the bible in the end times? Maybe it isn’t here? Good people refuse to do nothing. We sit back and we allow television shows to come on to promote homosexuality. The Christian world ought to ban the sales of whoever is sponsoring those things across the United States. That is the only ban you have got is the money. Show me the money and that is what sells. They are boastful.
They invent ways of doing evil. That goes on. I have heard from people that have been involved in this lifestyle. We have got a lot of people we have told about Christ who were out of that lifestyle, who revealed all those things. The things that take place in bath houses would absolutely turn your stomach. Inventing new ways of doing things, disobeying parents, senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless.
Romans 1:32
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
In other words, there is a promotion. Not only am I going to do it, the way I am going to feel better about myself is to get more people doing it. Then I won’t feel so bad. I won’t feel out of place. Do we understand that? In this day in age, where we have the political persuasion and everything else, it is not politically correct to talk about these things. Now the child of God and the teacher of the scripture cannot help talking about that. In so doing, I want to emphasize once again, if I had a loved one or a friend that was involved in the practice of abnormal behavior, namely that of homosexual behavior, that means having sex with someone of your own sex, I would reach out to that person with truth.
If that person says, “Don’t give me that junk, Bob, I was born that way”, I would say the conversation is over. I would say, “Go drive the car yourself.” A person who says that I know this is wrong. “It is eating my lunch. There is something in my gut that are hanging out because of this”, I would talk with them, counsel with them until hell froze over. That is a person who is saying, ’I know what I am doing is wrong.”
How many of us were involved in something we know is wrong? Anybody in here? Anyone relate to the apostle Paul, who said this.
Romans 7:15
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
We all do? Can a Christian be involved in homosexual activity? Absolutely. Can a Christian be involved in adultery? Can a Christian be involved in fornication? Can a Christian worry? Can a Christian be depressed? We can do all those things, can’t we? Can a Christian be involved in homosexual activity? Absolutely. All you have to do is just get trapped. All you have to do is listen to that voice of Satan that says this ought to be fun, something you have never done before. It looks fun on television. Isn’t it interesting they only show the fun part. You never see the destruction of marriages of people who look at pornography all the time. You just see the fun. You never see the families destroyed. You just see the fun stuff.
So you listen to that voice and say “this might be fun”. You do not know what Satan may say to you. He is the most convincing being in the world. He is convincing. He can convince you to do anything if you just listen to him. There is your key. Quit listening. Sometimes we do and when we do we make fatal mistakes in our life. The things you do to hurt someone, you never get over. What was I thinking? You were thinking what Satan was telling you to think.
The bible is merely saying to us is that this is not natural behavior. You were not born that way. You had to abandon that relationship in order to get involved in this. Then we get to people who are the promoters. We have seen this, have we not, among the Catholic church? So many of the priests have been involved in homosexual relations with guys. I wish I could tell you the number of young men that I used to sit at the First Baptist Church in Dallas with our children in the choir. You see these young, fresh, rosy cheek children who today are dead from AIDS, who sang their hearts out about Jesus but got recruited by some pervert in the homosexual activity, who was either a teacher, a coach, or someone who liked children in a way that you are not to like children. I say to parents, watch your boys more closely than you ever watched your girls in this day in age.
Our daughter was talking about this in school. A boy went to a class type of deal not too long ago. They were going to have a deal at Sky Ranch, the students in Plano and were to all camp together. The rule is you cannot call your parents for three days. The guy who was one of the counselors said, “I cannot wait to get out there”. He said, “I can’t wait to show you pornography on my computer and teach you how to drink like a man.” What! Debbie’s children are not going. But there are people’s children that are. That is how you get into this stuff. You are recruited by somebody, a pervert who wants to get into the mind of a small, innocent child, teaching them perversion.
So folks, this is not an easy lesson to teach. I do not know why it should not be, but it is a truthful lesson. I tried to teach you from the word of God, not with what man says, but what God has to say about this lifestyle. I hope that you will take it to your hearts. I hope that you will not ever think for one minute that I am gay-bashing because I am not. I have led numerous homosexuals to Christ. I would work with you if you are in it. But I will not work with you if you are convinced you are born that way and that it is a natural thing to be doing. I would have to say “I am sorry. The gig is up. I cannot work with you.”
So I would imagine in a group of this size, you have literally hundreds of people out there who knows somebody, even someone in your own family, who is involved in this lifestyle. I pray that you will approach him with love but also that you approach him with conviction in your heart. This behavior is not normal. This behavior is perversion and there is a way out and He is Jesus. Jesus will change your heart. Your heart has become warped. If your heart becomes warped then it needs to be changed. The only person who can change your heart is Jesus. He says to you, “I will change your heart. I will remove that heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will give you a new way of living.” That is our hope.
Let us pray together.
I pray that as we allow these truths to sink into our hearts, that never again will we be caught up into the thinking of the world, that these things are anything different than what You said. We must hang onto these because the very moment we do not, and the arguments are so convincing, and we are told we are unloving. But the fact is we are the most loving people in the world when we tell people the truth. It is not loving to lie to somebody. Love is when you tell them the truth and letting that truth set them free. So Father, I pray that we will soften our hearts to the person that becomes strong as horse radish in regards to hanging on to what truth is and never letting go of it, never being torn away from it, but to hang tenaciously onto what is true, in a loving and in a kind way. I thank You for all these things in Jesus name and for His sake. Amen.
