Is Homosexuality a sin?

Now this might seem to be a strange question to ask because all of us in the room hopefully would answer with affirmative yes. However, many outside this room would struggle with answering this question correctly. Why is that? I believe the answer is because we are being bombarded with the Homosexual movement. It wasn’t that along ago when homosexual were ashamed of what they were doing and they kept their sinful secret. But, starting around the 60s the Gay movement begins to blossom and grow and more and more people have started coming out of the closest as they like to say. It’s only been in the last 10 years that more and more government leaders and movie stars have started announcing proudly that they are gay.

I also find it a shame that the word gay has been turned in to vile description of a homosexual. The word gay used to be used by everyone. If you watch some of the older movies you will see them say I feel so gay today which of course simply meant they were happy. But, now thanks to the homosexual movement this word cannot be used in the same way every again.

One of the avenues that they use to promote and desensitize the public for their sinful behavior is through the media. Just about every movie or show that you watch on TV either has a fulltime gay character or will have a part time one. Their agenda is to try and get us to accept that they are hear to stay and that homosexuality is a part of our culture so we should simply accept their behavior as normal. Now a new report has just came out about a decline in gay characters on some shows and this has the gay community worried. Here is what the report says in it entirety.

As the new autumn television season kicks into gear in the USA, advocates for gay visibility are voicing concern over a sudden decrease in the number of GLBT characters on primetime network shows.

In a statement released Monday, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said that GLBT representations in the new season declined by almost two-thirds from the 2001-02 season.

Cancellations of shows like “Spin City,” “Felicity” and “The Education of Max Bickford” are responsible for the downturn, which leaves only six shows with gay and lesbian characters: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “E.R.,” “NYPD Blue,” “Will & Grace” and the new “MDs.”

The absence of “That 80s Show” and “Education of Max Bickford” also leaves the new network season without a bisexual or transgender character, respectively.

“The diversity of the gay community cannot be conveyed through seven characters, especially when all of those characters are white,” said Scott Seomin, GLAAD’s entertainment media director. There were 20 such characters last season.

GLAAD’s tally, however, does not include primetime shows on cable channels, such as “Queer As Folk,” “Six Feet Under” and “Sex and the City.” The three shows are the most popular among several cable offerings that feature GLBT characters.

Not all gay activists share GLAAD’s level of concern. John Aravosis, who led the “Stop Dr. Laura” campaign, told the Los Angeles Times that the number of characters may not be the most accurate indicator of acceptance.

“Whether you’re up or down a gay character or two isn’t nearly as important as the fact that TV has accepted us as a normal part of the fabric of gay life,” he said.

I hope this is trend that continues but what this report shows us is that the homosexual use the media as tool influence people in accepting their behavior. Another thing that helps the homosexual movements are big companies have decided to help fund the homosexual movement such as Ford and Wal-mart. Many of our retailers have started using homosexual behavior in their commercials trying to appeal the gay community. Some companies have began to offer special discounts to gay owned businesses. Friends we need to be aware of these tactics and try our best not to become desensitized to the fact that Homosexuality is wrong in God’s eyes. Listen to this quote.

“The more popular a type of moral corruption becomes in society, the less opposition there is to the sin from the Christian community.”

Now I wish I could say this quote isn’t true and it shouldn’t be but unfortunately is most of the time. Of course when this person refers the Christian community is lumping all the denominations and the one church you read about in the Bible all together as one group. In the past when new movement began such as the homosexual movement the religious world protested and spoke against such movements but as more time has passed now we see less protesting and more religions embracing homosexuality. This same thing has happened with the concept of marriage, divorce and re-marriage with the church. The Bible states only 2 ways that a person can be remarried scripturally and that is if your mate cheats on you then you have the right divorce and remarry or if you mate dies you are also free to remarry any other reason given are beyond what the scriptures say. But because of such high divorce rates this is not a popular teaching and so many in the religions world and even some of sister congregations have decided to look the other way instead of standing on God’s Word and this is the same thing that is happening with the Homosexual movement.

This is why you now see denomination splitting into new denomination because one group wants to accept active homosexuals into their denominations while others do not.

Now as far as I know I have not read or heard nor heard of the Lord’s church accepting or splitting over the homosexual movement so far but mark my words it will most likely happen sometime in our generation and that will be very sad. Now the reason I say it most likely is because I have notice a pattern. When the religious world especial those who call themselves denominations start adopting sinful agendas then it not usually to much longer until you start seeing some who belong to Christ’s church start accepting them as well.

Then what really kills me is when these groups try and twist the scriptures to show that God is not really opposed to Homosexuality. This brings us to the next part of lesson where I will affirm that God has been against homosexuality from the beginning of time.

When you look at the Bible you will find that you can break up in 3 different areas. The first is the Patriarchy period which includes creation to the time of Moses. The second is know as the Old Law or Judaism which includes the time of Moses up to the time of Christ. The third period of time is called the New Law or Christianity which started with Jesus death on the cross and continues on today.

Let begin with the Patriarchy period and see if Homosexuality was condemned by God.

Our first example begin Gen. 18 when Abraham get some heavenly visitors that affirm that he is going to have a son but notice what happens starting in verse,

Genesis 18:16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. ¹⁷ And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ "since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." ²⁰ And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, ²¹ "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." ²² Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.

As we learned their was a great outcry against vile sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and these 2 angles go to that city while Abraham stays before the Lord. Next we find Abraham asking God a series of questions about how many righteous people it would take to keep him from destroying the city. Now first Abraham ask if 50 would be enough and God says yes and he continues on until he ask if 10 would be enough and the answer was still yes. So, if there had been just 10 righteous people God would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah but as we know there wasn’t that many to be found. Now notice what happens as we follow the story in chapter

Genesis 19:1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. ² And he said, "Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way." And they said, "No, but we will spend the night in the open square." ³ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Lot knew how these people of this city were and so he urged these men to stay in the protection of his home.

Genesis 19:4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." ⁶ So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, "Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ⁸ "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof." ⁹ And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

This just shows how wicked this city was and we can see they were not interested in Lot’s daughters these men wanted these 2 men so they could know them carnally. No doubt the people of this city were guilty of all kinds of sin but this shows us that Homosexuality was one of the sins and remember the Lord said that this city was guilty of vile sin. This shows that Homosexuality was a sin during this time period.

Genesis 19:12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city -- take them out of this place! ¹³ "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. ¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." ¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords! ¹⁹ "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰ "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." ²¹ And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. ²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sexual immorality which includes homosexuality and Jude 7 makes this very clear,

Jude 1:7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Sodom and Gomorrah will forever remain an example that God does not accept not tolerate sexual immorality which includes homosexuality.

Now let move up in time to Moses Law or Judaism to see if God had changed his mind about homosexuality. We all know that Moses gave us the 10 commandments and then he gave over 600 laws that were to obeyed in the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus 18: ²⁰ 'Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her. ²¹ 'And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. ²² 'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. ²³ 'Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. ²⁴ ' Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. ²⁵ 'For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ²⁶ 'You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ²⁷ '(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ²⁸ 'lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ 'For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰ 'Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.' "

Friends you can’t get much clearly than that. We can see that all things that are listed including homosexuality are considered to be an abomination to the Lord and these people doing these acts were to be cut off from children of Israel. Also notice what it says 2 chapters later in,

Leviticus 20:13 'If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

Homosexuality was punishable by death under the Old Law. So, far we have seen that God has not changed his mind toward the vile act of Homosexuality and need to keep in mind that today we are not under the Patriarchy Period nor or we under Moses Law. So, now we must focus in on the Christian period to see if God changed his mind toward homosexuality. First lets look at,

Ephesians 5:3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ⁴ neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

None of the people listed here are going to make it to heaven which shows that these acts are acceptable by God. Now fornication is broad term which includes in relations between people outside the bondage of marriage which includes homosexuality. Now someone might say well as long as Gay couple are married then they will be ok but that not the case because there is not authority for a homosexual marriage in the Bible instead Jesus says this,

Matthew 19:3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" ⁴ And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' ⁵ "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? ⁶ "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

Since the beginning of time God designed marriage to between a man and a women and that’s it and so a Gay couple can never truly be married in God’s eyes. Notice Paul says in,

Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

Notice Homosexuality is consider as not being natural as goes against nature. It considered to be a vile passion and shameful. Finally notice that Paul tells the Corinthians in,

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Friends it doesn’t get any clearly then this those who choose to live the homosexual lifestyle will not make it to heaven. I have clearly shown the God has not changed him mind about the sin of homosexuality as I have shown you from scriptures where condemned in all 3 time periods. So don’t every let anybody try to convince you that the Bible doesn’t condemn Homosexuality. But, there is great news for all those who engage in sin including the homosexuals because notice the next thing Paul says,

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

This shows us without a doubt that the sinner can change and no longer be involved in the type of sins and yes that includes homosexuals all can be forgiven because everyone of the sins and be overcome if the person is willing to do so. That what is so wonderful about God because it doesn’t matter what sin you have been involved in in the past because if you are willing repent that is change you lifestyle and conform it to the word of God you can stand justified before God. If you notice Paul say these formers sinners had been washed which is reference to their baptism when accepted Christ as their savior.

This same invitation is for you. (give invitation).