Nothing is so offensive to the unregenerate mind as a message of coming judgment for sin. But the chief reason is precisely that people involved are sinners.
I fear for our world and its cities. On the whole, cities are noisy places. But I have gone out at night on a holiday weekend or on a snowy winter day and have been moved by the stillness. The streets are so peaceful I am tempted to say, “God’s in His heaven; all’s right with the world.” But I know that even then, all is not right with the world. And even though I cannot hear the cries of sin, God does hear them and is hoarding up His wrath against the day of judgment.
When sinners object, “Why doesn’t God do what’s right?” they mean, “Why doesn’t God overlook my sin?” But God does not overlook sin. God judges sin. What happens when the Judge of all the earth does right? Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed; the earth is overwhelmed by the Flood; men and women are punished in the lake of fire.…This is what will happen to you if you refuse Christ. You will be condemned, and God’s honor will be upheld in the process.
The only hope for you is that God’s justice is also revealed in the death of Jesus Christ for sinners, where His mercy is seen as well. God commands you to turn from your sin to that Savior.
—James Montgomery Boice1—
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Key point: God loves all of us as we are, but He also loves us so much He refuses to allow us to remain as we are! In Christ, we become new people entirely. It isn’t that we reform, but we are transformed by Him. For that to happen however, we must forsake our pride, repent of our sins, and allow Him to change us from the inside out.
Part 1 is available here.
Part 2 is available here.
In part 1 of our series, we met Luis Javier Ruiz, a Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor who, after the shooting, rediscovered his faith in Christ and left homosexuality. In part 1 we also established that homosexuality isn’t the greatest of sins. That doesn’t let anyone off the hook, however, because in part 2 we saw that all people—homosexuals and heterosexuals alike—are guilty of the great sin of pride. That said, we still were compelled to note the strong connection between homosexuality and pride. A person can almost use the terms pride and homosexuality interchangeably. While this news is ominous enough, there’s more. God has forewarned us!
Here is the truth. Homosexuality is especially ominous in a significant number of ways. It isn’t just about rebelling against God’s authority in the moral realm; it’s also about defying His authority in the created order. God’s authority is not hidden but evident to all. He has made it apparent in and through His creation, leaving people “without excuse.” In Romans 1:18-27, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote,
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
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.
Homosexuality isn’t the only sin of which these people are guilty, but it is impossible to be fair to the biblical text and separate homosexuality from Paul’s discussion. The entirety of what Paul wrote in verses 18-32 describes the path taken by those who reject God and natural law—the principles He has revealed in the natural world. In English in the New King James Version, what Paul said in verses 28-32 forms one long sentence.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Pride: Nothing to be Proud of
Paul’s affirmation that “those who practice such things are deserving of death” and that they “also approve of those who practice them” should cause us to quake in our boots! We dare not miss an important connection here, however; one that should sober us up even further. Take note! Pride is explicitly mentioned. It is a core problem for those rebelling against God in the manner described in Romans 8:28-32.
Note Paul’s use of the words translated proud and boasters in verse 30. Significantly, both Greek words appear together in just one other verse in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 3:2. Paul reversed the order in his letter to Timothy. Here is the entire context of the verse, with the words we’re highlighting printed in bold text.
31 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
At this point, when we think off our homosexual friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members, our hearts break, and we weep for them. We also are compelled pray for them and love them unconditionally. Moreover, in loving them, we are driven to do all we can to convey to them the truth about their behavior. It is ominous for them in the worst sort of way!
Pointing the Way
Pride, therefore, is nothing to be proud of! Fortunately, Luis Ruiz and an increasing number of others who, through the power of Christ, have left homosexuality, are speaking out. They are upholding the truth of Scripture and declaring the good news that God loves each one of us, yet in such a genuine way He does not allow us to remain as we are. Heterosexuals and homosexual alike are sinners in need of a Savior.2 Seeing that all people needed a Savior, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be executed on a cross for the sins that should have brought death directly to them—to us! Christ died and then rose from the dead, proving God had accepted His Son’s death as sufficient payment for human sin.
We’re not automatically forgiven, however. Each person must ask God to credit Christ’s death to his or her account. When a person does this, God is pleased to cleanse his or her sins with His Son’s shed blood.
He gladly gives new life to the one who repents of sin and asks to be forgiven. To repent in this context simply means to turn away from one’s sin and in so doing, to turn toward God with a willingness to follow Him and walk away from pride and worldly pleasures. God helps people do this! As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” And in Romans 8:1 the apostle stated, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Homosexuality is an extremely serious sin, but no one has to remain in its chokehold. Change is possible.
Want proof? Just look at Luis Javier Ruiz!
Copyright © 2018 by. B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
- Luis Ruiz and Angel Colon have a ministry and website called Fearless Identity.
- Luis’s Facebook page is available here.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture passages have been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1James Montgomery Boice, Genesis, an Expositional Commentary, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985), 159, 160, 162-163.
2While both the heterosexual and the homosexual are sinners in need of the forgiveness and transformation that only Jesus Christ can bring, we must acknowledge that Christ’s transformation of the heterosexual does not involve that person’s leaving his or her heterosexuality. Heterosexuality, you see, is part of God’s design. Homosexuality, by contrast, is contrary to that design. This means that God calls the Christian to forsake homosexuality and no longer identify with it. The individual may continue to struggle with same-sex attraction, but he or she no longer is held captive to it. Some have said that for the Christian who has homosexuality in his or her past, the goal is not heterosexuality, but holiness. This is true, but with a qualifier. The holiness involved here either includes heterosexuality or moving toward it, with God’s help. For more on this topic, please see this article.
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