Key Scriptures: Matthew 11:46-50; 19:10-12; 22:23-30; 1 Cor 7:24-40; Isaiah 56:1-7

Today’s message is entitled “Christianity and Homosexuality.” This is the twelfth of twelve messages on marriage in our series “Marriage and Our Maker.” And some people might ask, “Why preach a message on homosexuality in a series on marriage?” It’s a good question. The answer is, “Because our country and our culture has improperly merged those two subjects. And we can’t do that as Christians.” And there comes a time in a church’s life, when its leaders have to make declarative statements on hot-button issues. This is one of those issues. And we can’t shy away from it.

Now before we get into the specifics about what the Bible says about this topic. Let me just start with some resources for you. An excellent book on this subject, probably the definitive work on this topic is Kevin DeYoung’s What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? I can’t say everything I need to say about homosexuality this evening. So, for those of you who have persistent questions, access that book.

Also, a much more personal and relatable take on this issue can be found in Becket Cook’s A Change of Affection: A Gay Man’s Incredible Story of Redemption. There are some heartbreaking details in that book. But I loved this book. And it gave me some practical and helpful insights as a pastor on the struggle of homosexuality that some people deal with. I would encourage you to avail yourself of that book. 

Also, there’s a clearly written and theologically sound book on this topic written by Christopher Yuan called Holy Sexuality and the Gospel. Christopher Yuan is a professor at The Moody Bible Institute. Great book. Great testimony. If you don’t have time to read any of those books, you can watch a conversation between Rosaria Butterfield, Christopher Yuan, and Becket Cook on YouTube. It’s part of what’s called, “The Becket Cook Show.” It’s very good. 

I’m not endorsing everything that is written in these books or everything that these individuals have said. But these resources have helped me. They have influenced what I’m going to present to you today. And if you want to chase this issue down further after today’s message, that’s where I would direct you. 

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Now as I look out on the church today, I see three ways in which churches err with this issue. Three ways: 1) They are silent about this issue, 2) The are acquiescent to the pressures and the demand of our culture, or 3) They are hateful. Let me just be clear, none of those are acceptable, biblical ways to respond to homosexuality in our world. We can’t be silent. We can’t be acquiescent. And also, we can’t be hateful. Al Mohler said once, “[As Evangelicals], we often, very often, sin against homosexuals, when we speak about homosexuality. And we are the people who should have a theology that keeps us from doing that.”

And it’s good for us to remember that one of the passages in the Bible on homosexuality is 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, where Paul says something very profound. First of all he makes this extensive list of sinful lifestyles that keep people from inheriting the kingdom of God: idolaters, adulterers, greedy, drunkards, revilers, homosexuals. And then he says in verse 11, “and such were some of you.” 

In other words, there were converted adulterers in the church. There were converted drunkards and idolaters in the church. There were converted homosexuals in the church in Corinth too. There were homosexuals who were “sanctified” and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 

My deep desire, hope, and prayer is that VBVF would be a place where homosexuals can be saved and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus. Is VBVF a place where homosexuals can be saved and justified and sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus? It should be. I pray that we will be that kind of church. 

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Now here’s what I want to do today. I want to give you first of all… Ten Biblical Reasons Homosexuality is Incompatible with Christianity. 

We’re going to look at several passages today so get ready to turn quickly and often to different passages in your Bible. By the way, each of these passages could be studied in greater depth, but I don’t want to do that because I want to look from cover to cover in the Bible at this topic of homosexuality. I want to cover in broad strokes the breadth of passages that deal with this topic. 

And then when we’re done with that, I want to answer this application question: So What Now? In light of what the Bible says about this topic, what do we do about it now? How do we interact with the culture, communicate to the culture, and even suffer in the culture for the things that we believe? I’ll give you five responses to that. And then we can take some questions. 

Let’s start with this. Here’s the first reason that homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity. 

1) Creation (Gen 1:26–28; 2:21–24)

Now this is an inferred reason, but it’s significant, nonetheless. When God created man and woman, he created them in his image. And he created them with separate purposes and anatomy and reproductive functions. When you talk creation and homosexuality with people, you need to be able to explain to them in three categories how homosexuality is incompatible with God’s intent, and even how it’s incompatible with marriage. [Our country has now legalized gay marriage. But that doesn’t mean that God condones it. It wouldn’t be the first time that the state has legalized something that God deems inappropriate.] 

Here are the three categories: 1) There’s design. God created man first and then he created woman second and brought her to the man. Not Adam and Adam, or Eve and Eve, but Adam and Eve. 

2) There’s order. Man was created first. He leads. A wife comes along side as a helpmate and follows (Gen 2:18). There is loving leadership; there is respectful submission. If man is married to man, who leads? If woman is married to woman, who follows? God’s design and God’s order are impossible to fulfill in a homosexual union. 

And 3) There’s intent for reproduction. God’s first command to his creation was “be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). It is an incontrovertible biological fact that procreation cannot happen in a homosexual union. If Adam had rejected Eve and sought another man for companionship, it would have assured the extinction of the species. 

Now do homosexuals try to work around that problem? Yes, they do. Several years ago I had a friend from High School who is a lesbian. And she and her partner got pregnant with child. But let’s be clear that didn’t happen without some very creative biological maneuvering. They had to circumvent their own sexual relationship to make that happen. And it defies God’s intent.

This situation has gotten even weirder and more objectionable with the increase of surrogacy in the LGBTQ community. What’s happening there is really disturbing. For more on that, you can read Katy Faust’s book Them Before Us. 

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Now secondly, you might say let’s look at the law. But hold up now. Even before the law was given to Moses, we have an incident in history where homosexuality is addressed and that takes place at Sodom and Gomorrah.   

2) Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 13:12–13; 19:1–29; Jude 7)

Turn with me to Genesis 13. In Genesis 13, which is something like 500 years before Moses, in the time of Abraham there were twin cities in Canaan near the Dead Sea called Sodom and Gomorrah. Our English words “sodomy” and “sodomize” originate from this passage. 

Here’s the context of this. Abraham and his nephew Lot have both grown too rich and expansive to live together in the same region. They need to part ways. Abraham gives Lot a choice of the land, and Lot chooses the land near Sodom. So the Bible says in verse 12. 

12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

In time Lot abandons his tents altogether and lives within the confines of that city. And everything is hunky-dory for a while, and God blesses Abraham for his generosity. But notice the foreboding statement in verse 13. 

13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

That is one of the most denunciatory statements in the Bible. They weren’t just wicked. They were exceedingly great wicked sinners against the Lord. If you put that sentence in one of your English papers, your teacher would count off for redundancy. But in Hebrew, it’s purposeful. The men of Sodom were exceedingly great wicked sinners against the Lord. What were they doing? 

Well, we see this clearly in Genesis 19. In Genesis 19, God has decided to destroy Sodom for their sinfulness. He sends two angels there to investigate and rescue Lot. Lot welcomes them as guests into his home and look at verse 4:

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”

The Hebrew word for “know” here is the word יָדַע (yada) which is often used in Genesis euphemistically for sex. We do the same thing in English. We say “slept together” to indicate sexual activity. If I say that a guy took a girl out to dinner and then they slept together. You know I’m not talking about a slumber party. The Bible says, “Adam knew [יָדַע] his wife Eve and she conceived” (Gen 4:1). These men wanted to “know” Lot’s guests sexually. In other words, they wanted to have homosexual relations with his visitors, either by consent or by force.

Now there’s a lot more that I could say about Genesis 19, but I’ll save it for another time. This is one of the most tragic and upsetting passages of Scripture. Probably the most upsetting thing is that Lot offers his daughters instead of his guests. People try to say that that’s because Lot was trying to not be inhospitable to his guests. But I don’t care how you slice it, Lot played the part of a horrible parent in Genesis 19. Genesis 19 is, from top to bottom, a depiction of human depravity at its worst. 

But as far as homosexuality is concerned, the conduct of these men and their inflamed homosexual lust so angered the heart of God that he determined to annihilate the city. It wasn’t just that they were tempted towards homosexuality. They were actively, unabashedly, even violently looking for ways to satisfy their sinful desires and God wiped the city out. 

Now some in the homosexual community would say that the sin here is a lack of hospitality in the city. Some would even say that the sin is violence, and the violent pursuit of sexual satisfaction instead of a loving monogamous homosexual relationship. And in fairness, there is certainly a combination of factors here. But there’s no way that you can avoid the correlation between the righteous wrath of God poured out on Sodom and the practice of homosexuality in that city. And if there was any doubt to that fact, Jude 7 makes that point clear: “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” 

Some might say that the sins of these Sodomites would be curtailed if marriage and fidelity in a homosexual relationship were endorsed. I personally think that the idea of a monogamous homosexual relationship is a myth. There’s research that substantiates that historically. But even if there is such a thing as a monogamous homosexual relationship, you still have with that a violation of the clear teaching of Scripture. 

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So, we see homosexuality as a practice implicitly condemned at creation. It was also explicitly condemned in pre-law Sodom. Now we can turn our attention to the law.

3) The Law (Lev 18:22; 20:13)

What does the law say about homosexuality? Well, turn with me to Leviticus 18. By the way, we’re just walking through the Bible and looking at passages that address this subject in order to establish a full-orbed biblical theology. 

Leviticus 18:22 - You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 

Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 

Now when you talk to homosexuals and to some Christians who advocate for homosexual practice, they sometimes will argue against this text by saying that there are many laws that were unique to the OT people of God and those laws were fulfilled in Christ. Therefore we can eat pork. We can mix fabrics. We don’t have to ostracize people outside the camp for penalties of cleanness and uncleanness. We don’t have to offer animal sacrifices, etc. So, the argument goes, homosexuality is now  longer prohibited. 

There are three problems with that view: 

1) The word “abomination.” That’s a very strong word in OT. It’s the word תּוֹעֵבָה (tôēvāh). That word is only used in two passages in Leviticus. First in this cluster of verses in Leviticus 18 that includes homosexuality. And then again Leviticus 20 where the topic once again is homosexuality. Temporary camp regulations for Israel are nowhere described as abominations to the Lord. In fact homosexuality is packaged with some other practices in Leviticus 18 as abominations: child-sacrifice, bestiality, incest. Nobody’s arguing that laws against those practices are temporary and therefore no longer binding on the community of faith.   

2) Notice too what is said in Leviticus 18:24:

Leviticus 18:24-25 - “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 

What that says there is that God judged the nations before Israel for these practices. So this wasn’t just a stipulation that was unique to Israel. This is a universal principle that God enforces. As Protestants we distinguish between the Civil, Ceremonial, and the Moral Laws of the OT. The Civil Laws dealt with matters of Jewish civil government. Ceremonial laws dealt with sacrifices, priestly duties, circumcision and the like. And Moral Laws are demonstrations of God’s character and therefore universal. Civil Laws and Ceremonial Laws are fulfilled in Christ and are no longer binding upon the NT community of faith. Homosexuality is part of the Moral Law. It’s not Civil or Ceremonial. 

3) There’s the issue of the NT. If Leviticus 18:22 was the only passage that speaks against homosexuality, then maybe the argument could be made that it was a temporary stipulation for the people of Israel like the eating of pork, like the mixing of fabrics, etc. But we’ve got pre-law passages, post-law passages, and NT passages that address the topic of homosexuality. And those passages implicitly or explicitly condemn the practice as a sin. 

So I’m sorry, this is not a localized prohibition in the camp of Israel. This is a universal principle. homosexuality is a universal sin throughout human history.

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Fourthly there’s…

4) Israel and Benjamin (Judg 19–21, see especially 19:22) 

In the post-law era of Israelite history, at the end of the book of Judges, there is a story where the sin of homosexuality is brought to the fore. It’s actually one of the most heart-breaking passages in Scripture. Just like the Genesis 19 text, there are many heinous sins committed by the Israelites in Judges 19–21. 

And here’s something you need to know about the book of Judges… the book of Judges is like a roller-coaster. The people of Israel abandon the Lord, things get bad and then God sends a judge/deliver and things get better for a time. And that cycle happens again and again throughout the book. But not only do the cycles get more pronounced throughout the book, the evil of the Israelites after a judge dies gets progressively worse throughout the book. 

And the worst of the worst happens at the end of the book in Judges 19–21. Now we don’t have time to go into everything that happened, but suffice it to say that the Benjamites from the city of Gibeah, do like the Sodomites in Genesis 19. They try to forcibly gang-rape a visitor to their city. In fact, they do worse than the Sodomites, because they gang rape the concubine of a Levite and leave her for dead. And God is so infuriated by their action that he renders a judgment on the whole tribe of Benjamin. And the rest of the Israelites almost wipe out the entire tribe.

Now there’s really nothing more to say about this passage than what we’ve already said about Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is one significant difference that I should probably point out. In Judges 19–21, we’re not dealing with a group of pagan, godless heathens from Sodom and Gomorrah. This was the “people of God” doing great evil against the Lord. When the people of God, who should know better, condone and practice sin; that is great wickedness. They should know better. 

And likewise the church of Jesus Christ should know better than to condone and practice homosexuality. We have men in our country, more than a few, that call themselves “pastors” that call themselves “shepherds” of God’s flock who openly practice homosexuality. That is great wickedness. 

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Fifthly. Here’s a fifth reason why homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity.

5) Solomon and his Bride (Song 1-8)

Now you don’t have to turn to Song of Solomon right now. I’ll make this fifth point quick. The great idealized picture of marriage and sexuality in the Bible is the Song of Solomon. And there’s one man and one woman enjoying marriage and sex as God created it. Enough said.

Some people might say, “But Tony, Solomon was a polygamist. How can he be the example of marital purity and biblical fidelity.” I would say to that, quite frankly, “Solomon fell short of his own ideals (and the Lord’s!) in the Song of Solomon.” We should embrace the writings of Solomon in Song of Solomon. We should not embrace the ways of Solomon and his polygamist lifestyle. 

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And now, we can finally go to the NT to address this subject. And the NT is not silent on this. Paul speaks three times about this issue and each time he presents homosexuality as a practice that is unacceptable in the church, incompatible with faith in Christ, and contradictory to the kingdom of God. 

6) Paul to the Romans (Rom 1:18–28)

Turn with me first to Romans 1. 

Incidentally, you might wonder why I’m not taking you to the Gospels and to the words of Jesus. Well the truth of the matter is that Jesus never addressed the issue of homosexuality. That’s a fact. A woman said once, “I’m going to stand here right now and tell you all the things that Jesus said about the practice of homosexuality.” And then she just sat there silently. 

The point being, Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality. And that’s true. But that’s a pretty thin argument supporting same-sex practice. Jesus didn’t speak about bestiality or child sacrifice either. Would anyone want to argue for those practices? Jesus didn’t speak against abortion either, he mentioned murder as the broader category. But would anybody really argue that Jesus would be okay with the practice of abortion. If I were a lawyer, I wouldn’t want to take that case. 

There are some very plausible reasons why Jesus didn’t speak against the practice of homosexuality. 1) It wasn’t a pressing issue in his day. Jesus was dealing with adultery and legalism and self-righteousness on a regular basis in Israel, but not the practice of homosexuality. Paul, on the other hand, was in the Greco-Roman world and so he had to deal with it. It was rampant. Not just homosexuality but also pederasty. 

By the way, if people ever try to play the “Jesus didn’t say it” game… people will do that, you know… “Okay maybe Paul said it. I don’t care about Paul. What did Jesus say?” Listen you can’t do that. You can’t divide the Scriptures into the portions which Jesus spoke, recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and all the rest of the OT and NT. You can’t do that. All Scripture is inspired by God. 

Even Jesus said himself in John 16:12–13, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” Jesus couldn’t tell his disciples everything they needed to know because quite honestly they were having enough trouble just understanding the simple aspects of Jesus’s death and resurrection. Their minds were overloaded. 

And so Jesus says, the Spirit will come and will guide you into all truth. And sure enough in time God recorded in Scripture all that we need for life and godliness on planet earth. So don’t let people try to create a false dichotomy between what Jesus said as Scripture, and the rest of it as less than Scripture. Paul’s letters are the very words of God. Unless you want to just dispel with the notion of inerrancy and divine authorship, which we of course as evangelical Christians refuse to do.

So, what does Paul say? If you had only one passage to take a person to in order to explain why homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity, this is the one – Romans 1:18–28.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

What Paul is saying here is that despite clear knowledge to the contrary, people are rejecting God. They are worshiping creatures and their own creatureliness instead of God who is, holy, transcendent, wholly other, and immortal. So what is the penalty for their idolatry and their rejection of God? 

Well he says in verse 24:

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Here’s the judgment:

 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 

Casual homosexual sex and all the judgments that come with that… that’s what Paul is describing here. This is God’s judgment poured out upon a culture that is defiant and idolatrous. 

Some people will say that the sin that Paul describes here is not homosexuality per se, but heterosexuals pursuing homosexuality or homosexuals pursuing heterosexual relationships. According to them, that’s the sin discussed here. 

Others will say that the sin that Paul is condemning here is the practice of pederasty, which is a sexual relationship between men and boys. But how does that square with Paul’s statement about men with men and women with women? And also, what about the clear allusions to Genesis 1 and the command God gives to procreate? I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t work. That’s not interpretationally possible.

Others will say that what Paul condemns is promiscuous, homosexual behavior, but now we’ve got that problem solved because we have same-sex marriage and same-sex commitments. But again, how does that square with God’s provision of sex for both pleasure and progeny? How does that square with the numerous other passages in the Bible that forbid same-sex relationships? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work either. Paul wouldn’t have differentiated between monogamous homosexual behavior and promiscuous homosexual behavior. They both would have been considered sinful in his mind. 

Honestly, you know what Paul would have called legalized same-sex marriage? I’ll tell you what he would call it. He would call it the condoning of evil. He would call it an example of verse 32, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Not only is same-sex marriage an affront to the God of the Universe, it’s also an assault on human flourishing. The way that God created society, the way that God created marriage and sex and family is designed for a father and a mother raising children. It’s a mockery of God’s good institution of marriage and family to say that they can be supplanted and replaced by a same-sex relationship. The prophet Isaiah condemns our country and our actions when he says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa 5:20). 

And by the way, just so you know, homosexuality is not a new thing in our world. It’s a sin as old as time. It’s as old as Sodom and Gomorrah. And one of the reasons that Paul is having to address this in Rome, is because it was commonplace in society.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Dishonorable passions. Debased mind. Doing what ought not to be done. Impurity. The dishonoring of their bodies. Consumed with passion for unnatural relations. Shameless acts. That’s how Paul describes homosexuality in this passage. He views this as one of the tell-tale signs of God’s judgment upon a culture. 

Yes all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Paul makes that clear in Romans 3:23. But that doesn’t mean that all sin is the same. Eternally-speaking, we are all sinners condemned before God. But temporally there are certain sins that are such an affront to God that the punishment, the consequences, and the wrath of God are markedly different than other sins. And Paul says homosexuality is one of those. 

Now can a homosexual get saved? Absolutely! I have good friends who have come out of this lifestyle. I have a friend who serves as a pastor now who used to be gay. He has confessed to me struggles with this sin even after salvation. But that sin doesn’t consume him. And his identity is no longer found in that sin. It’s found in Christ. And his identity in Christ is the power he’s embraced to break the cycle of sinfulness. 

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7) Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:9–11) 

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 6. I’ve referenced this passage already, but let’s look at it together. Paul says in verse 9:

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 

This phrase in the ESV here, “men who practice homosexuality” is actually a combination of two words in Greek. There is the word μαλακός (malakos) which means “soft” or “effeminate.” And then there is the word ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoitēs) which means literally “male” (ἄρσην) in the “bed” (κοίτη). So what we have here literally is the “soft” and “the male in the bed.” And what Paul is describing here is both the active and passive acts of homosexuality. They are both sinful. 

That second word, ἀρσενοκοίτης, is a Pauline coinage. It could be translated “bedders of men” or “those who take males to bed.” It’s derived from the LXX and the statement about homosexuality in Leviticus 18:22 and especially 20:13.

Paul continues in verse 9.

neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Such “were” (past tense) some of you. Now don’t be confused by this. We all sin and we all fall into sin. But for those whose lives are characterized by that sin… those who relish and revel in those sins… those who unrepentantly embrace and flaunt those sins… they will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Some might ask, “Can a homosexual go to heaven?” The only way I know to answer that is to say, “I don’t know; I need more information.” Are we talking about someone who is struggling with homosexual desire, but has been cleansed by the blood of the lamb and is being led by the Holy Spirit to purity and sanctification, while at the same time occasionally falling into sin? Then, yes. Of course that person can go to heaven. Homosexuality is not an unforgivable sin. 

But are we talking instead about a person who flaunts their homosexual practice with no evidence of conviction, repentance, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? In that case I would say, “No.” And it’s not just homosexuality; I’d say the same thing about a kleptomaniac. I’d say the same thing about an alcoholic or a serial adulterer or a serial murderer or an arsonist. I’d say the same thing about a person who loves money more than God. Jesus himself said it’s impossible for a man to serve both God and money (Matt 6:24). 

You might say, “Well that’s not really helpful, Tony. I need to know for sure whether that person is saved or not!” Listen, this’ll help. The church is not in the business of determining ultimately who’s saved and who’s unsaved. We preach the gospel. We make disciples. We lead people to sanctification through the preaching of God’s Word. And we let God sort it out in the end. I guarantee you in the end, there will be people in heaven who you didn’t think would be there. And there will be people who aren’t in heaven who you thought surely would be there. 

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Now, one more passage from Paul. 

8) Paul to Timothy (1 Tim 1:8–11)

Paul was writing to Timothy, a young pastor over a large congregation in the city Ephesus. And he writes in 1 Timothy 1:8–11:

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality [ἀρσενοκοίτης – “men in the bed”], enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Now what Paul says here is that the law is a very important thing, even though it doesn’t save us. The law points out our sin… which is a precious thing by the way. To know what sin is by your conscience and by the law that God gives is a precious thing. People will do just about anything they can to quiet their conscience. 

If you wonder why the gay and lesbian community is so vitriolic sometimes in the way that they interact with Christians, I think it’s because they focus their anger so intensely on those that oppose them in an attempt to salve their conscience. They’re trying to quell their stubborn conscience that tells them over and over again that what they’re doing is wrong.

But not only is the law good because it helps point out our sin, it also restricts the effects of sin. Lawlessness is a terrifying thing. And the more laws that we enact to enable sin (which is what we’re doing right now as a country), the more effects of sin we’re going to encounter. I don’t say that to scare you, I say that to prepare you. We will collectively suffer as a culture because of the laws we’ve enacted to enable sin. Just get ready for it. Pray through it. Pray for revival to reverse it.

Now how is this relevant for homosexuality? The law is not only necessary for restricting sin, I think it’s necessary for conversion. I think it’s necessary because if we preach a gospel of “Love, love, love, all you need is love” (that’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ, that’s the gospel of the Beatles), then you may in fact lead homosexuals to become false converts instead of leading them to become saved, regenerated, repentant followers of Christ. 

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You’ve got to preach that as part of the gospel. God’s love and God’s wrath are two essential components of his nature. You can’t bifurcate them. You can’t attach your gospel preaching to only one aspect of God’s nature. There needs to be confession. There needs to be acknowledgement of sin. There needs to be repentance. 

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Now, two more things, quickly. The ninth reason homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity is the symbolism of marriage that is fulfilled with:

9) Christ and his Church

In a relationship involving a man with another man or a woman with a woman, that symbolism is shot to pieces. Christ is the bridegroom; the church is the bride. Christ leads; the church follows. The husband leads; the wife follows. What do you do in a homosexual relationship? Who leads? Do you flip a coin? Probably the last thing that a homosexual couple would be thinking about is how does our relationship symbolize Christ and the church! Nevertheless it’s an issue for us as Christians. 

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And finally, one more reason that homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity is an argument from silence.

10) Silence - There are no positive displays of homosexuality in the Bible

There are homosexual acts mentioned in the Bible. But there are no couples. And acts of homosexuality are never presented as positive.

Now arguments from silence are weak arguments unless they’re attached to other, better arguments. And that’s the case with this one. This is simply the tenth argument that is already well-defended before we get to #10. 

Here’s something to consider. If I were to argue for polygamy as an acceptable practice for a Christian… for the record, I don’t think that polygamy should be practiced, and I’ve got good Biblical reasons for saying that… but let’s just say I wanted to argue for it. I would at least have a number of different polygamists in the Bible to substantiate my position: Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc. 

But there’s nothing for the homosexual to argue with. In fact the places that people try to go to construe a Biblical, homosexual relationship are, quite frankly, ridiculous. They do violence to logic. People will say Ruth and Naomi were lesbian lovers. “Where you go, I’ll go, wherever you lie down, I’ll lie down” (Ruth 1:16–17). Some construe that as a lesbian relationship. If that’s the case, why was Naomi so anxious to marry off Ruth to Boaz? 

Other people will suggest David and Jonathan. And granted David had his troubles sexually. And David said to Jonathan, “Your love is better than the love of a woman” (2 Sam 1:26). But David said that because his wife, Jonathan’s sister was unfaithful to him. She ran out on him and married another. And also because David didn’t experience the faithful monogamous love of one wife. David was a polygamist. David had his sins, for sure. But homosexuality wasn’t one of them. 

And I think people who try to make these assertions in the Bible have an agenda that goes beyond allowing the Bible to speak for itself and inform us on life and practice and holiness and sexuality. 

I heard Al Mohler say this once. This is a good summary statement for what the Bible says about homosexuality. Mohler asserts, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality? There are liberal biblical scholars who are doing their very best, like termites in the mound, to undermine the authority of Scripture by suggesting for instance that the Scriptures never speak precisely to homosexuality. Brothers and sisters, if the Bible does not speak precisely to homosexuality, it doesn’t speak precisely to anything. I can admire much more the honesty of a man who says, ‘I will not take it. I will not obey it.’ Then the one who says, ‘I think given a postmodern hermeneutic we can do something with this.’” In other words, those who say, “I think we can justify homosexual practice from the Bible,” are gravely mistaken. I’m sorry, but you can’t do it.

And we have a responsibility as Christians and as followers of God to tell the truth, especially to our children, about God’s view of homosexuality. By the way parents, you better tell them. You had better talk to them about this. You better prepare them for what the world throws at them.

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Now, God help us! What do we do with all this? We’ve got all this Biblical content about how homosexuality is not allowed for a Christian and how in a culture it incites the wrath of God. So how do we respond to a world where homosexuality is being viewed increasingly as acceptable, as permissible, and in some cases as preferable to heterosexual practice? 

What do we do about this? How do we respond to the onslaught of homosexual propaganda that we are bombarded with constantly? How do we respond? Here’s my first answer to that question, and it might surprise you. 

So What Now?

1) Love people

Love sinners. You might say, “How can I do that, Pastor Tony, after all the information you just gave us on how the Bible condemns homosexual practice?” I know. You’ve got to figure out how to hate the sin and love the sinner. 

Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Did Jesus accommodate sinful practice? No. He said, “Go and sin no more.” He offered a better way. He loved the sinful woman, and he was loving towards her in spite of her sin. We, as Christians, must become the people who love homosexuals more than homosexuals love homosexuality. 

2) Don’t be silent, [don’t be] acquiescent, [and don’t be] hateful

Don’t fall into one of those three traps that Christians and churches so easily fall into.

3) Be prepared to suffer

D.A. Carson tells the story of a friend of his who was working in a office environment. She’s a Christian. And a homosexual coworker came to her and said, “I hear you’re a Christian, so I guess that means that you hate me.” And she said, “No I don’t hate you. I don’t even know you. Yes I believe the Bible says some things about homosexuality, but I’m happy to know you. I’m happy to work with you.” That man went to HR and complained that he felt diminished and threatened in the work place by this Christian’s views. That woman was brought into HR and fired that same day.

Now God help us! We cannot use stories like that to induce fear-mongering in our churches. And we cannot use stories like that to incite hatefulness. Enough of this stuff has happened now that hopefully the court system in our land will see the injustice of something like this. But if they don’t, and if we suffer in years to come, don’t be surprised. And suffer well. 

There may come a day where preaching a sermon like I’m preaching right now will get a pastor thrown in jail. So be it. Let God be true and every man a liar.

I don’t think fear-mongering in our churches is the answer. And I don’t think that wistfully going back to the days of yore where we didn’t have to struggle with these things is helpful either. Yes, I want to advocate for justice, goodness, and fairness in our country. But I’m also preparing for the worst. 

4) Don’t preach salvation by works; Preach the gospel

We don’t want homosexuals to simply stop being homosexuals. There are plenty of heterosexuals who are going to hell. We want them to get saved. We want them to have the power inside of them to conquer their struggle with same-sex attraction. That power comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Who does the Holy Spirit indwell? Those who are saved. How do they get saved? They repent of their sin, and they believe the gospel.

5) Don’t [ever] forget 1 Corinthians 6:11

C.S. Lewis said once, “A cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.” “Such were some of you.” We were all sinners condemned before a righteous God who by God’s grace were brought into the kingdom of light. 

Don’t ever forget that. Don’t ever get up on your Christian high-horse and look down upon those filthy sinners out there. “Such were some of you” says Paul. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” says Paul. We all need the grace that God gives.