{"id":19169,"date":"2016-07-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-bible-and-voting-part-3\/"},"modified":"2016-07-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T05:00:00","slug":"the-bible-and-voting-part-3","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-bible-and-voting-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible and Voting – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[65],"series_event":[466],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19169","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-proverbs","series_event-the-bible-and-voting-2016","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Bible and Voting - Part 3","sermon_date":"20160717","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3765,"sermon_slides":3769,"sermon_mp3":3771,"sermon_id":"71716942157","series_or_event":466,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":65,"chapter_and_verse":"14:34","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Bible and Voting \u2013 Part 3\n\n7-24-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Proverbs 14:34\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Independence Day\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of Genesis, chapter 25, verse 23.\u00a0 If you\u2019re visiting with us for the very first time I\u2019ll pray for you, first of all, but you just walked into a series of studies; this is part 3 that we began on Independence Day on The Bible and Voting.\u00a0 And I just want to hope you catch my heart on this, I\u2019ve felt for a long time that the Bible has a great deal to say about issues that we face as voters and I\u2019ve felt that for whatever reason pulpits have remained silent on these subjects, largely because of fear of intimidation, a fear of offending people.\n\nSo my heart\u2019s desire was really to put together a topical study.\u00a0 This is should not be interpreted as a partisan speech, we\u2019re not getting into candidate A, candidate B, party A, party B, party C.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the intent.\u00a0 We\u2019re not even making comments specifically about this election cycle.\u00a0 But what I\u2019m trying to do is give God\u2019s people a set of biblical priorities that will allow them to make discerning choices in any election cycle because the Bible, whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, happens to comment on political issues.\u00a0 So these are the issues I\u2019m seeking to bring to the forefront.\n\nThe Bible equips us for every good work as 2 Timothy 3:17 tells us, it says of the doctrine of Scripture, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0 Notice the qualifier \u201cevery\u201d or all.\u00a0 The Bible gives us a worldview.\u00a0 When we understand the mind of God and the thinking of God on issues, that may not be important to people but they\u2019re very important to God , it informs us regarding how we should engage the political process.\u00a0 In other words, who should we vote for, who should we not vote for.\u00a0 What kind of ideas do we look for in a candidate?\u00a0 Who should we support?\u00a0 And of course I\u2019m not in the business of telling people who to vote for, the IRS wouldn\u2019t like that very much if I did that.\u00a0 And even if the IRS said it\u2019s okay I wouldn\u2019t want to do it anyway because I don\u2019t really feel that\u2019s my role as a pastor.\u00a0 I feel my role as a pastor is to equip you with God\u2019s Word so that you can make informed decisions in any election cycle.\n\nSo what we are doing in essence is we are going through a series of biblical issues that relate specifically to matters voters face.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve divided these up into three parts: economic issues, social issues and foreign affairs issues.\u00a0 In the last two studies together we looked through about ten economic issues that the Bible directly speaks to.\u00a0 And we\u2019re moving from there into social issues which we\u2019re going to start today.\u00a0 These are issues that the Bible deals with; these are issues that the Bible speaks of and these are things that we should think about to reflect the mind of God in the polling place. And so here are a series of about eight that we will look at.\u00a0 We won\u2019t finish all of them today but we\u2019ll get a healthy start on it.\u00a0 I have these phrased in terms of questions; questions to ask when we think about voting, questions to ask of candidates when we think about voting.\n\nSo here would be the first, what I would call social issue: Number 1, does the candidate favor legal protection for the unborn?\u00a0 Sugar Land Bible Church, what you\u2019ll discover, takes a stand on an issue that our culture has really been debating since the Roe vs. Wade decision of 1973.\u00a0 When the Roe vs. Wade decision came out in 1973 essentially what the Supreme Court said, in a 7 to 2 decision, is that the individual state governments do not have the ability any longer to pass certain laws to protect the unborn.\u00a0 In essence what that decision did is it federalized the issue; they took the power away from the states to pass such laws and they said that states which passed such laws were violating the Constitution.\u00a0 And they found this Constitutional right in what is called the right to privacy, a woman\u2019s right to procure an abortion.\n\nAnd it\u2019s so interesting that the court discovered this right because nobody had seen this right prior to 1973.\u00a0 If you go from 1973 all the way back to the beginning of our republic and the beginning of our Constitution, 1787 is when our Constitution came into existence, it was always permitted for states to pass laws to protect the unborn.\u00a0 Suddenly that right evaporated with the stroke of a pen in 1973.\u00a0 And since that point in time it\u2019s estimated there have been probably about sixty-five million abortions in America since that decision.\n\nNow think about the number sixty-five million, probably about a million and a half abortions per\u00a0 year, and rest assured that\u2019s even a conservative estimate, think of our population of a little over three hundred million people as Americans and think for a minute if one out of every five people just disappeared.\u00a0 That is to put that on par with what has happened in America with abortion.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tragic thing.\u00a0 You know, Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews, and if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly, and I\u2019ll show you the verses that God considers the unborn to be persons, we have killed (through abortion) far outdone Hitler in many respects.\n\nAnd it\u2019s always a very difficult issue to talk about and I can understand why pastors don\u2019t want to talk about it because when you begin to talk like this no doubt someone within your earshot, someone that you\u2019re speaking to in your flock has had an abortion.\u00a0 And when you begin to condemn the practice of abortion they immediately go into condemnation and guilt.\u00a0 And no doubt there could be somebody within the sound of my voice that has made a decision on that issue, it may not be the best decision they\u2019ve made as they\u2019ve thought about it, but before we get into this I just want to share with you a word of grace.\n\nIt is interesting in the Scripture that three of God\u2019s choicest servants had murder in their background.\n\nMoses, you can find all this in the Bible, David, and Paul.\u00a0 And yet the grace of God covered all three.\u00a0 So if someone is under condemnation today because of a mistake that they have made in the past I would encourage you to plead for the grace of God because the grace of God is so extensive, it is so inexhaustible that it even covers that particular situation.\n\nOne of our position statements at Sugar Land Bible Church reads as follows:\u00a0 We believe that the fetus, from the moment of conception, is a person.\u00a0\u00a0We also believe that all persons are created in the image of God regardless of age, health, function and\/or condition of dependency.\u00a0 What we teach here is not quality of life; we teach the sanctity of life.\u00a0 Those are two different ideas.\u00a0\u00a0 You see, we\u2019re living in a culture that is moving in the direction of the quality of life; life has value if it demonstrates a certain quality, if a person is healthy, if a person has earning power, if a person has intelligence then we ascribe in our culture dignity or worth to such an individual.\u00a0 But what about the person that\u2019s mentally retarded?\u00a0 What about the person with illiteracy problems?\u00a0 Learning disabilities?\u00a0 Physical, mental disabilities?\u00a0 The culture, what you\u2019ll notice, is beginning to say people of that variety don\u2019t have the same dignity and quality as other lives.\n\nWhat we teach is that all people, regardless of creed, color, health, intelligence, earning power, career options are all valuable to God because they bear God\u2019s image.\u00a0 Even the guy under the bridge there off of 59 that I see regularly, that with alcohol all over his breath, that lives under the box, the guy that we see on the side of the road we just sort of turn away from because we don\u2019t know how to emotionally handle that situation.\u00a0 The Bible says even that person has value before God because he, or she, is an imager-bearer.\n\nSo there is a great war going on in our culture between these two different worldviews, the quality of life on one end of the stick and the sanctity of life which is what Sugar Land Bible Church, based on its founding documents, believes in, the sanctity of life.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is if you care about the Bible and I hope you do, the Bible makes absolutely no distinction whatsoever between unborn and born.\n\nWhen Roe vs. Wade crafted that decision and tried to make a distinction between the two they were doing something that the Bible simply does not recognize.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I had you turn to Genesis 25:23, notice what it says, \u201cThe LORD said to her,\u201d this would be Rachael, \u201cThe LORD said to her, \u2018Two nations are\u201d where\u201d \u201cin your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of interesting facets of this passage but isn\u2019t it interesting that the Lord said from your womb are coming forth two nations.\u00a0 God looked at what was happening in her womb as actual people or progenitors of two different people groups.\n\nNotice some Psalms, if I can give these to you: Psalm 127:3, it says, \u201cBehold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the\u201d what? \u201cwomb is a reward.\u201d\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Psalm 139, notice that we have Psalm 139 quoted in our doctrinal statement, Psalm 139:13, it says, \u201cFor You formed my inward parts, You wove me in my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d\u00a0 In my mother\u2019s womb, David says, You were at work stitching me together.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, the prophet Jeremiah; as God is speaking to the prophet Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1 and verse 5, God says, \u201cBefore I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.\u201d\u00a0 All over the Old Testament, I\u2019m just giving you a very small sample of verses, God never makes a decision or a distinction between unborn and born; they are all personages or personalities in the mind of God.\n\nAnd then we go into the New Testament, Luke 1:41 says this of John the Baptist, it says, \u201cWhen Elizabeth heard Mary\u2019s greeting, the baby\u201d that\u2019s John the Baptist, \u201cthe baby leaped\u201d where? \u201cin her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 I remember prior to Sarah\u2019s birth, of course us men in the pregnancy process we have the easy part, we don\u2019t have to carry the child, but I remember my wife complaining, oh, she\u2019s moving over here now, inside of her, she\u2019s moving over here.\u00a0 And then once this kid was born I was like wow, now I understand what you\u2019re talking about, she was wriggling and moving everywhere, I mean, we could hardly keep her still.\u00a0 But interesting that her exact personality and her attributes were just self-evident, even in her mother\u2019s womb.\n\nNow it\u2019s interesting here in Luke 1:41, it says, \u201cWhen Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby\u201d that\u2019s the Greek word brephos<\/em>, \u201cthe baby leaped in her womb;\u201d notice that what is inside of Elizabeth\u2019s womb, John the Baptist \u00a0has called the baby, brephos<\/em>.\n\nNow notice Luke 2:16, it says this of Jesus after Jesus was born, \u201cSo they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is a reference to the baby Jesus lying in the manger and when you study the word \u201cbaby,\u201d a born child, it\u2019s the exact same Greek word, brephos<\/em>.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice that the same word is used to describe a born child and an unborn child; a born child in Luke 2:16, an unborn child back in Luke 1:41.\u00a0 My point is simply this: the Bible knows no distinction between born and unborn.\u00a0 They are all personages and personalities.\n\nLuke 19:44, it\u2019s a horrific description of what would happen to the city of Jerusalem in A. D. 70 as a result of the penalties imposed by the Mosaic Law upon the nations of Israel.\u00a0 Jesus gives a description of what would happen to that city because of the rejection of their king.\u00a0 It\u2019s a description of what the Romans would do to Jewish women; it\u2019s corroborated in the writings of Josephus, a Jewish historian, who works in part for Rome, who describes in great detail the horror of A.D. 70. \u00a0Jesus about thirty years before A. D. 70 happened says this in Luke 19:44, He says, \u201cand they will level you to the ground and your children within you,\u201d notice that, \u201cyour children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that Jesus says they\u2019re coming after you, they are going to kill you, and He specifically says \u201cthe children within you.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus makes this statement, \u201cchildren within you\u201d will be killed.\n\nNow when we study those grizzly events and we study the writings of Josephus we discover that\u2019s exactly what Titus of Rome did; it\u2019s horrific to even describe, but the Romans actually came to impregnated Jewish women and tore open their wombs to kill the child inside of them.\u00a0 Jesus, in Luke 19:44 is making a prediction about that but in the process He makes a tremendously potent and powerful, what I would call a sanctity of life statement.\u00a0 He says; \u201cyour children within you.\u201d\n\nSixty-five million abortions\u2026 you look at that number and you think about that number and I wondered to myself so many times how can God turn away from that sin and pretend like it\u2019s not happening?\u00a0 Got can\u2019t turn away from that sin any more than He can turn away from what the Nazi\u2019s were doing in World War II.\n\nAnd it is interesting to me that in the very first murder in the Bible, you remember the story about how Cain murdered his brother, Genesis 4:10 says this, \u201cHe said, \u2018What have you done?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And these are the words that really send chills up and down my spine, \u201c\u2018The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The blood is given a figure of speech called a personification where an inanimate object is ascribed with human attributes to describe the horror of what was happening and God was saying the blood itself is crying out to Me for retribution; the blood itself is crying out to me for justice.\u00a0 And I think about that in light of America and what we\u2019ve allowed to happen and I think about that in light of the fact that so few Christians want to talk about this issue, even a smaller number want to actually vote for somebody or not for somebody on this issue.\u00a0 And I just wonder, how long can God simply turn away from this?\n\nAnd people always want to call one\u2019s attention to polling data, as if that means anything.\u00a0 Can you pass a poll or pass a vote to vote against God when God has spoken?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how many people favor something or disfavor something if God\u2019s Word speaks to the sanctity of life the issue is settled.\u00a0 And by the way, who are these people polling anyway?\u00a0 Do they poll the unborn child?\u00a0 Do they count their votes?\u00a0 Because I have a suspicion that if you were to factor in the sixty-five million voices of unborn children in this poll I think the numbers in these polls might be a little bit different; don\u2019t you?\u00a0 How do you think they\u2019re going to vote, these unborn children?\n\nAnd so we\u2019re just living in this incredible time.\u00a0 And I noticed this about politicians; if you can\u2019t get this one right there\u2019s not a lot you\u2019re going to get right.\u00a0 If you won\u2019t take a view of a position on something as simple and as fundamental as this that if the life within the womb of the mother is actually alive there ought to be laws to protect that child; if\u00a0 you can\u2019t take a position on that I don\u2019t know what I can trust you on.\u00a0 The Bible says if you\u2019re faithful with the little things God can trust you with more.\u00a0 How can I trust someone\u2019s worldview on something when they can\u2019t even come down to a proper conclusion on this?\n\nIt\u2019s not just Bible believers that think this way, I could quote to you a great deal of\u00a0 atheists that think this way.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because medical science has finally caught up to the point where it is disproving the things that Harry Blackman said in the Roe vs. Wade decision.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of looking at a sonogram, for goodness sake; it is so obvious that what is happening within the womb of a mother at a very early point is an actual life.\u00a0 So here\u2019s my question; my question to any politician that wants my vote is do you favor or not favor legal protection for the unborn.\n\nLet me take you to a related issue, let\u2019s go to the book of Leviticus, chapter 19 and verse 32. Does the candidate favor legal protection for the elderly?\u00a0 It is interesting that no matter\u2026 when a society becomes pagan, when a society loses its sight on God there\u2019s always two people that have a target on them.\u00a0 Those would be the people that are most vulnerable, the most defenseless, the people who don\u2019t have an ability to protect themselves.\u00a0 And the people I\u2019m talking about are the unborn, we mentioned them earlier, but the second group is the elderly.\u00a0 This is what God said would happen to the nation of Israel as she wandered off into unbelief\u2014she would be disciplined by pagan powers.\n\nAnd in the book of Deuteronomy, I know I didn\u2019t have you turn to Deuteronomy, but in Deuteronomy 28:49-50 God describes this pagan power that would come against Israel, and we know that that was worked out in history through the Assyrians and the Babylonians and then Rome in A.D.70, as the cycles of discipline came upon national Israel as they were functioning under that Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28:49-50 says, \u201cThe LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, [50] a nation of fierce countenance\u201d watch this, \u201cwho will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.\u201d\u00a0 How do you define paganism?\u00a0 How do you define a godless culture and a godless nation?\u00a0 It\u2019s characterized by a lack of respect for the\u00a0 young and the old.\u00a0 It\u2019s right out of the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verses 49 and 50.\n\nWhat are the priorities of God?\u00a0 In our quality of life mindset we are discarding the young, we are discarding the old.\u00a0 Does that reflect God\u2019s thinking at all?\u00a0 God\u2019s priorities are the opposite.\u00a0 The book of James, chapter 1, verse 27, says this, \u201cPure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress,\u201d how do you define true spirituality according to the book of James?\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s brother wrote this, he said you demonstrate it by showing compassions to the defenseless, and he mentions two groups, orphans and widows.\u00a0\u00a0 What do both groups have in common?\u00a0 They have no advocate.\u00a0 An orphan loses their parents, think about the vulnerability of a small child without their parents.\u00a0 Think about back in the Greco-Roman world of a widow, let\u2019s say a woman who was dependent upon a husband for financial wellbeing, suddenly he dies, now she\u2019s in a state of vulnerability.\u00a0 We\u2019re dealing with the Greco-Roman world, you don\u2019t have social security in that time period; you don\u2019t have any safety net of any sort.\u00a0 And James says these are the\u00a0 people you ought to be ministering to, not neglecting.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how you define true spirituality.\n\nWhat was the attitude of Jesus Christ towards children?\u00a0 A nuisance?\u00a0 An annoyance? NO!\u00a0 It was the opposite, \u201cJesus said, \u2018Let the little children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Matthew 19:14]\u00a0 It seems like our priorities are diametrically opposed to the way the world system is moving.\n\nAnd on this subject of the elderly we have to talk about something called euthanasia which is a reality in many countries of the world, where the elderly are made to feel that they are a burden, financially, which in some cases they are but what does that have to do with anything?\u00a0 And they are prompted towards what we would say \u201ctaking an early exit.\u201d\u00a0 The book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 32, this is what it says, this is the verse I had you turn to, \u201cYou shall rise up before the grayheaded,\u201d as my hair gets grayer I appreciate that verse, \u201cYou shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged,\u201d the culture is not honoring the aged; the aged are looked at as an annoyance and a nuisance, just like the unborn God\u2019s priorities are the opposite.\n\nYou know, the elderly have one thing going for them that the unborn don\u2019t have going for them.\u00a0 They can organize politically, they can raise their voices against a government that seeks to take away their rights.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, this world would be a completely different place if the unborn, who cannot speak for themselves, had that same ability to politically organize.\u00a0 But there is always a war on two groups of people as you move from sanctity of life into what we could call quality of life.\n\nDoes this really hit home?\u00a0 Let me quote to you something from March 28, 1984, this is the then sitting Governor of Colorado, Richard Lamm, this is quoted in the New York Times.\u00a0 \u201cElderly people who are terminally ill have\u201d quote, according to the then governor, \u201ca duty to die and get out of the way\u2019 [close quote] instead of trying to prolong their lives by artificial means, Gov. Richard D. Lamm of Colorado said Tuesday people who die without having life artificially extended are similar to [quote] \u2018leaves falling off a tree and forming humus for the other plants to grow up,\u2019\u201d [close quote, \u201cthe Governor told a meeting of the Colorado Health Lawyers Association at St. Joseph's Hospital.\u201d Quote, \u201cYou have got a duty to die and get out of the way,\u201d close quote, \u201c said the 48-year-old Governor. [open quote] \u2018Let the others in society, our kids, build a reasonable life.\u201d [Close quote.] [Quoted In Gov. Lamm Asserts Elderly, If Very Ill, Have 'Duty To Die,\u2019 New York Times, March 29, 1984.]\n\nYou see the quality of life mentality that comes out in that?\u00a0 The statement comes across like the mere existence of the elderly is somehow detracting from the quality of life of the younger people.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; I\u2019ve learned more from elderly people than any other group.\u00a0 In fact, when I was going through seminary I wasn\u2019t really interested in taking classes from the young thirty year old with his new PhD from Europe, I wanted someone that walked with the Lord for years and had studied the Bible for years.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t care if he had PowerPoints and all of the flashy educational tools that are available today; I didn\u2019t care if he knew how to use Logos computer programs or not.\u00a0 I wanted someone that was older than me, that had experience in ministry, that had walked with the Lord longer, that had studied the Bible longer.\u00a0 My quality of life was not subtracted by being around people like that, it was enhanced.\n\nYou know, it\u2019s interesting today, you can go to churches and you look around and you try to find older people and they\u2019re not there; the music is done in such a way that it alienates them; I mean, do you really want a church that has no influence from elderly people at all?\u00a0 Is that the kind of world that we want to live in.\u00a0 And it\u2019s so sad how the church starts to mirror, in some respects, the exact value system of the world.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that when\u2026 I did the math on this, when Richard Lamm made this quote in 1984 he was 48 years old; assuming the man is still alive today he would be in his 80\u2019s.\u00a0 I wonder how he feels about what he said now?\u00a0 And you see, I think at some point we need to start thinking about what\u2019s happening because we\u2019re not getting any younger and we are putting into motion, through a quality of life mindset, forces that we may not want to face as we get older, the very forces that we unleashed.\n\nThis is what Frances Schaeffer, the great Christian apologist said. He was in the late 1970\u2019s early 80\u2019s he was on the forefront of all of these issues that we\u2019re talking about and I remember watching videos of him saying virtually the same thing I\u2019m saying now, you\u2019d better think about what you\u2019re doing because the Bible says what is sown you also reap.\u00a0 We don\u2019t stay young forever and are we prepared to live in a quality of life society that we, in our youth thought was such a great and a grand idea.\u00a0 And I think there\u2019s a reason why the Bible calls elders \u201celders.\u201d\u00a0 You are to be governed by a plurality of godly men called elders.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in certain churches where everybody on the elder board is in their 20\u2019s; it doesn\u2019t look to me like an \u201celder board.\u201d\u00a0 I want people with life experience and Christian character on the board.\n\nAnother question to ask and we\u2019re just going to go right from the frying pan into the fire here, the third social question to think about when supporting or not supporting anybody for office is this: will the candidate respect heterosexual monogamous marriage as the time honored standard for society.\u00a0 Take your Bible if you could and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses 9-11, I have done studies on homosexuality at this church many times in the past; I won\u2019t rehearse all of the information for you, it\u2019s on the internet for you to look at and listen to and watch should you be interested, but I will say this: the fact of the matter is that at every turn, starting in Eden, God affirms heterosexual monogamy as the norm for marriage and He condemns homosexuality and any practice that would violate it.\n\nDon\u2019t get mad at me, I didn\u2019t write the book.\u00a0 This is the standard of God and since this is the standard of God how in the world do we think we can change it?\u00a0 You see, if man created marriage then man can alter it; the problem with that is we never created marriage.\u00a0 The first marriage comes into existence in the book of Genesis, chapter 2, verses 18-25 with Adam and Eve long before we were ever born.\u00a0 It\u2019s a standard given to us not to experiment with, not to tamper with but to receive and honor as for the best and the betterment of society.\u00a0 So whether it\u2019s creation, what God did at Sodom and Gomorrah, certain provisions of the Mosaic Law, the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of Paul, you will always see God affirming heterosexuality and condemning homosexuality.\n\nAnd people say well, come on now, Jesus never condemned homosexuality.\u00a0 Well guess what?\u00a0 Jesus never condemned free basing cocaine either nor did he ever directly condemn spousal abuse.\u00a0 Are you assuming that just because Jesus is silent on the matter (that the Bible says a great deal about elsewhere) that somehow that practice is okay?\u00a0 What sort of thinking is that?\u00a0 And yet this is standard practice if you ever get into a debate with a homosexual apologist.\n\nNotice the writings of Paul, specifically.\u00a0 There\u2019s the verses, [Pro-heterosexuality, 1 Cor. 7:2-5; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Tim. 3:2, 12.\u00a0 Anti-Homosexuality, 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Rom. 1:26-27, 1 Tim. 1:9-10.]\n\nPaul, three times promotes heterosexuality as the norm and condemns the practice of not homosexuals, because they are souls for whom Christ died, but homosexuality.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I had you turn to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and notice what this particular passage says. \u00a0\u00a01 Corinthians 6:9-11, \u201cOr 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals<\/u>, [10] nor thieves, nor the<\/em> covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. \u00a0[11] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.\u201d\n\nYou see all those sins he mentions there, and right in the middle of the list is homosexuals or homosexuality.\u00a0 The Greek word for homosexuality is arsenokoitus<\/em>, where we get the word arson, or arsonist.\u00a0 What does an arsonist do?\u00a0 He creates fire that\u2019s out of control.\u00a0 What is sin?\u00a0 It is giving vent to desires that get out of control.\u00a0 That\u2019s the word that\u2019s used to describe homosexuality.\u00a0 It is sexual passions, which are God-given, but channeled in an out of control manner in the wrong way.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that homosexuality is mentioned right alongside a list of other sins, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, the covetous, the drunkards, the revilers and the swindlers. How does the church of Jesus Christ think about the subject of homosexuality?\u00a0 Just like you would think about a thief, an adulterer, a swindler, a drunkard, a reviler, right in the same list is a statement there about homosexuality.\n\nNow did you catch this part here, \u201csuch some of you were.\u201d\u00a0 Did you catch that?\u00a0 \u201csuch\u201d referring to homosexuality and these other sins, \u201csuch some of you were, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.\u201d You\u2019ll notice that someone can be touched by the Spirit of God and their lifestyle can change from being a thief to no longer being a thief; from being a drunkard to no longer being a drunkard, from being a homosexual to no longer being a homosexual.\n\nWhy is this significant?\u00a0 Because here is the argument that is used in the culture constantly: homosexuality is no different than one\u2019s civil rights; just as we have laws, rightfully I might say, such as The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that protect people from discrimination based on an attribute about themselves, like skin color that they cannot change, we ought to have laws protecting homosexuals the same way, because after all, they are just like Hispanics, Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, they have an attribute about themselves they cannot change so let\u2019s take civil rights protection and broaden it to include homosexuality.\u00a0 That\u2019s the argument that\u2019s said over and over again.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that the Bible goes directly against that because it does not put homosexuality in some sort of race category; it puts it in a sin category.\u00a0 I have never met someone that used to be black, Michael Jackson might be an exception but\u2026. I have met people that used to be homosexual.\u00a0 I have met people that used to be swindlers.\u00a0 I have never met someone that used to be Hispanic.\u00a0 I have never met someone that used to be Asian.\u00a0 I have never met someone that used to be Caucasian but I have met a lot of people with all sorts of sins, including arsenokoitus<\/em> who under the power of the Spirit of God have changed under His influence and power.\n\nYou see, if you care about the Bible you cannot think about the issue of homosexuality the same way the culture wants us to think about it.\u00a0 You say well Andy, Andy, don\u2019t you have a compassion, I mean, what if somebody has a same sex attraction, don\u2019t you have compassion for the person that is wrestling with\u2026 I have a lot of compassion for that person, also for the same person that\u2019s wrestling with covetousness, also for the person that\u2019s thinking about stealing something, also for someone that\u2019s a drunkard that\u2019s wrestling with the desire to inebriate themselves constantly.\u00a0 My compassion goes to all of them but it isn\u2019t compassionate to take somebody who is a drunkard, let\u2019s say, build civil rights law around them and affirm them in a sinful pattern.\u00a0 How is that love?\n\nSee, we throw this word \u201clove\u201d around, we throw this word \u201ccompassion\u201d around, most of us don\u2019t even know what we\u2019re talking about any more.\u00a0 That\u2019s not love; it is not loving to affirm someone in a self-destructed, sinful, habitual lifestyle.\u00a0 What\u2019s loving is to call them out of it, just like the Bible has called me out of a lot of my own sin behavior and patterns.\n\nAnd by the way, just because you\u2019re born with an inclination to do something doesn\u2019t make it right.\u00a0 I was born with a pretty bad temper, I was born to just go off on people and lose my fuse at the slightest provocation.\u00a0 I was born with a desire for compulsive eating, you put something in front of me I\u2019ll eat it.\u00a0 I was born that way.\u00a0 That has never made it right.\u00a0 I am a sinner in Adam, I do all sorts of things that I shouldn\u2019t do, that I have a desire to do, having a propensity to do something out of my sin nature does not in and of itself make it right because people are always trying to argue that same sex individuals\u2026 and by the way, if I can go out on a limb and say this, I think we should stop using the word \u201cgay.\u201d What does the word gay mean?\u00a0 It means happiness.\u00a0 Let me tell you something about people caught in a sin, whether it\u2019s homosexuality or any other sin, there isn\u2019t any happiness in it, there\u2019s nothing gay or festive about it.\u00a0 There is perpetual condemnation, there is perpetual guilt, the suicide rates, as\u00a0 you know, people caught in this type of lifestyle are much higher than the average individual.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing gay about it; the proper vocabulary for this is the same sex movement.\u00a0 When you start using the word gay you start using vocabulary that the other side has invented.\u00a0 Words mean things.\n\nAnd so we\u2019re walking this very tight, delicate line in biblical Christianity today in America where we are trying to love the sinner but condemn the sin.\u00a0 I wish I had all the answers on how to do that; I\u2019m learning and growing as I\u2019m going, but what you find is people are erring on one side of the equation or the other.\u00a0 They\u2019re either so vitriolic in their condemnation of a particular sin that they\u2019ve lost sight of love.\u00a0 Or they are so tolerant of anything and everything that they\u2019ve lost sight of truth.\u00a0 The last time I checked Ephesians 4:15 says, speak the truth in love. [Ephesians 4:15, \u201cbut speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,\u201d]\u00a0 It isn\u2019t loving, folks, to affirm somebody in a lifestyle that\u2019s destructive to them.\n\nWhat happens to a culture and a society where marriage, monogamy, heterosexuality, is no longer the standard?\u00a0 Marriage just becomes between a man and a woman one of many options; that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad it works out for you that you\u2019ve chosen heterosexual monogamy but there\u2019s lots of alternatives out there\u2026 and let me tell you something else; do you know where this leads?\u00a0 It leads inevitably to discrimination against people that want to stand on the biblical view.\n\nThese cases, there are so many of them I wouldn\u2019t have time to read them all to you but if you follow this issue you know these cases are breaking out all over America.\u00a0 Jack Philipps, the baker \u201cwho declined to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple,\u201d by the way, that same sex couple could have gotten their cake made anywhere but they ganged up on this guy because he wouldn\u2019t submit to the new standard. \u201cJack Phillips is a baker who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because his Christian belief is that marriage exists only between a man and woman. Now a Colorado judge has ordered him\u201d you with me, this is American, \u201cNow a Colorado judge has ordered him,\u201d I thought we lived in the home of the free and home of the brave, I thought we had a First Amendment in this country, I thought we had freedom of religion, I thought we had freedom of speech, what is this business about a judge ordering somebody to do something that violates his conscience?\u00a0 \u201cNow a Colorado judge has ordered him to bake cakes for same-sex marriages, and if Phillips refuses, he could go to jail.\u201d\u00a0 [Ken Klukowski, \u201cBaker Faces Prison for Refusing to Bake Same-Sex Wedding Cake,\u201d online: http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/Big-Governmen<\/a>t t\/2013\/12\/12\/Christian-Baker-Willing-to-Go-to-Jail-for-Declining-Gay-Wedding-Cake, 12 December 2013, accessed 16 May 2014.]\n\nI was in Colorado speaking at the Steeling the Mind Conference, I gave this slide and this talk and a judge comes up to me afterwards, from Colorado, and I said oh no, what have I done now, have I messed up the stats?\u00a0 And she says I want\u00a0 you to know that I know the judge that did this and what you said is exactly right; this is exactly what happened.\n\nOregon, \u201cIn yet another example of gay activists overreach,\u201d these are all newspaper clippings, if you look at the bottom you can see the sources I got these from. \u201cIn yet another example of gay activist overreach, an Oregon official has not only burdened a Christian couple with a ridiculous fine, he has imposed a gag order on them\u2026In one of the most egregious anti-Christian acts committed by a state official in recent memory, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian not only upheld the ridiculous $135,000 fine levied against Aaron and Melissa Klein for declining to bake a cake for a lesbian commitment ceremony, but he ordered the Kleins to \u2018cease and desist\u2019 from making any public comments about their religious convictions relative to this case.\u201d\n\n[http:\/\/www.onenewsnow.com\/perspectives\/michael-brown\/2015\/07\/06\/oregon-declares-war-on-christian-faith]\n\nIn other words, we\u2019re going to put a fine on you that\u2019s unbearable; anybody that runs a small business knows that 135,000 fine is not chunk change; that is enough to cripple a florist shop, a bakery.\u00a0 And by the way, John Marshall said this, our third Supreme Court Justice, \u201cWith the power to tax is the power to destroy.\u201d\u00a0 You unleash big government into the realm of the morality police and you are living in a culture where the government has the ability to wreak destruction through fines (as they call it) on a person\u2019s life, livelihood and business.\u00a0 This is the United States of America we\u2019re living in; this is happening.\u00a0 I know people would rather talk about something else; frankly I\u2019d rather be talking about something else, the weather, anything, but at some point we have to come to grips with reality.\u00a0\u00a0 May God help us.\n\nThe interesting thing about these two cases is neither the Klein\u2019s nor the prior gentleman, Mr. Phillips was discriminating against homosexuals in employment, they weren\u2019t even discriminating against homosexuals when they came into their shops and wanted floral arrangements.\u00a0 What bothered them, these two small business owners, where they drew the line is I don\u2019t want to be involved in a wedding, providing services for a wedding, whether it be a wedding cake or a floral arrangement at a same sex wedding.\u00a0 And even though the homosexual movement could have gotten its needs met through any other local establishment they went to war against these two people, because the name of the game in the new morality that we\u2019re living in is you will comply and if you will not comply and if you will not accept the new way of thinking we are going to force you to do it.\n\nFor years, for decades I have monitored the same sex movement and what it\u2019s done.\u00a0 I watched in California what it did to the Boy Scouts of America.\u00a0 In fact, my father, who at that time was sitting on the bench, this whole thing came up in California, I was so proud of him; he wrote a glowing Appellate Court Justice opinion standing up for the Boy Scouts of America.\u00a0\u00a0 But I\u2019ve watched them go after the Boy Scouts of America, I\u2019ve watched them go into the military and try to shift the thinking of the military; now they\u2019re going after private businesses.\n\nLet me ask you a question; how long do you think it\u2019s going to be until they come into a church?\u00a0 Until they start putting pressure on churches and pastors, and I realize that in the state of Texas, and I thank God for it, we have pastoral protection legislation, other states don\u2019t have it, do you think that the same sex movement is somehow going to be satisfied with what they\u2019ve accomplished in the military?\u00a0 Or the Boy Scouts?\u00a0 Or these private business establishments?\u00a0 And they\u2019re going to say well, we\u2019ve won the war, we\u2019ll let the Christians in the churches say what they want.\u00a0 It is just a matter of time if this trend is not held at bay or checked when even what is articulated from a pulpit of a church will be put under regulation.\n\nOne of my seminary professor friends teaches a class, teaches it in America, he teaches it in Canada.\u00a0 He posts his syllabus online in America and he posts it online in Canada.\u00a0 And let me tell you something, those are two different syllabi.\u00a0 When he posts it in America he can put all the Bible verses on the syllabus that he wants to put on it.\u00a0 When he posts it in Canada he\u2019s got to exercise or remove all references to Romans 1.\u00a0 Well, what\u2019s wrong with Romans 1?\u00a0 Backing up to Paul, the second point down, second sub point, that\u2019s Paul\u2019s greatest denunciation of homosexuality.\u00a0 The Canadian government says we cannot and we will not tolerate that verse in education, which the last time I checked was supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas.\u00a0 They will not tolerate that verse in Canadian higher education.\n\nBeloved, Canada is not that far from America; they\u2019re just there on our northern border.\u00a0 How long is it until this mindset seeps in?\u00a0 And as you see the enemy coming in like this I look at the Christian public in America and you can\u2019t even get people registered to vote.\u00a0 You can\u2019t even get pulpits for churches to directly address some of these things.\u00a0 And I keep saying to myself, this time the church will wake up, or this time the church will wake up, or this time the church will wake up and it never does; it just slumbers right along, business as usual.\n\nOne of the few times in my lifetime I have ever see the church wake up and do something, and I suggest we wake up and do something while we have the freedom to do it, and the numbers; one of the few times in my entire lifetime that I\u2019ve ever seen the church wake up and do something was this totalitarian power grab by the Mayor of Houston a year or two ago when she began to subpoena the sermon notes of eight pastors in the city.\u00a0 Finally the church said is this America or is this the former Soviet Union?\u00a0 What country are we living in?\u00a0 And the church, for a season, woke up and voted off the ballot that piece of legislation, that ordinance where this whole dispute was about, and it was fantastic.\u00a0 The church didn\u2019t do it violently, they did it through peaceful means using the legal channels that God has given us.\u00a0 And then the church went back to sleep again and who got elected mayor in her place?\u00a0 Another homosexual.\n\nStewardship is important; stewardship means we are not the owner, we are the manager.\u00a0 We are the manager of time, talent and treasure, three things God has given us.\u00a0 I want to add something else to your stewardship list; this is not partisan, it\u2019s a stewardship issue.\u00a0 I want to add to your list your own government because what did Benjamin Franklin say?\u00a0 \u201cWhat have you given us, Doctor, a republic or a monarchy?\u201d\u00a0 His response: \u201cA republic, if you can keep it.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the challenge to American evangelical Christianity today.\u00a0 \u201cIf you can keep it!\u201d\n\nI was going to talk about capital punishment today but I have to leave a little early, I\u2019ll explain to you why at the benediction.\u00a0 If there\u2019s anybody here that has never come to a realization of their need for Christ, our admonition, exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Jesus came into the world not just to bring light to the culture but light to the individual soul.\u00a0 And that can only happen when an individual believes or trusts in the promises of Jesus Christ for the safe keeping of one\u2019s soul.\u00a0 If somebody is here today and they\u2019ve never done that, they\u2019ve never made that decision, our exhortation to you is right there where you\u2019re seated to trust in Christ and His gospel so that light will come to you, and then you in turn can be a vehicle of change for others.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on the elders of this church in the lobby afterwards are more than willing to talk to you about it.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, a heavy series, heavy talk today, sometimes Father we need some tough love and help us to understand the time period that we\u2019re living in, give us grace as we seek to walk out these principles as we seek to speak the truth in love; we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t