Very quickly, since I know that some errantly contend that homosexuality is not an abomination to God, I want to offer up God’s truth to you through these words of God straight from the Bible. The law against homosexuality in the Old Testament is contained in Leviticus and is upheld in the New Testament:
Lev 18:22 – “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. ”
Lev 20:13 – “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.” (NKJV)
Before Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, sin was punishable by immediate death. We only have the grace of being spared through Christ, and thank the Lord! Yet, the sin is still a sin and repentance is now the only requirement.
Remember that Jesus addressed the laws of the Old Testament in this way:
Matt 5: 17-20 - “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (NKJV)
And He goes on in the subsequent passages to describe how the laws before His incarnation were physical, but now they have been extended to be within the intent of the heart in addition to the outward physical action—keeping the law within the desire of the heart and not simply superficially, yet still keeping it physically.
Furthermore, Paul addresses homosexuality in the New Testament:
Rom 1:22, 25b-27 – “Professing to be wise, they became fools…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.” (NKJV)
Additionally, the Bible is clear that sex is a gift of God that He ordains strictly within marriage.
1 Cor 7:1-2 – “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:
It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” (NKJV)
This points to the truth that a man “touching a woman” sexually is immoral until they are married and it is then made moral. Therefore, the sexually promiscuous outside of marriage include both homosexual and heterosexual behaviors. But realize this: God has never made a provision for a man to marry a man or woman to marry a woman—search the Bible and you will not find it. He joyfully speaks of marriage between man and woman and never between those of the same gender. Therefore, if marriage is not ordained by God between those of the same gender, then neither is sex. So what is a committed relationship of love without anything of a sexual nature? Great friendship—it is the substance of the other three loves outside of eros. And that is the extent of the same gender relationship as ordained by the Bible. Now, you may say that today we have same-sex marriage in some states. Ok, we also have abortion. In some states of the world, we have legalized murders of adults and legalized sex-slavery of children as young as 6 years old. So do we say that if it is legalized in the world, then it is right? Of course not. We must consult the Bible to test the laws of man. If you do not claim to believe the Bible, then these thoughts are irrelevant to you until you come to know it as Truth. But those of you who do claim to believe the Bible, examine your belief right now. If you believe homosexuality is not a sin, then you have declared that you don’t believe the Bible.
But the point of this message is not about homosexuality specifically so much as the travesty of the cop-out that “I don’t judge” has become, including within the Christian community. We, as humans, so easily stray to either side! We are either so judgmental that we sin by our judging and call condemnation on ourselves, while hurting others at the same time, or we are so watered down for the fear of being judgmental that we fail to stand for anything moral (often this fear is not of sin or the Lord, but fear of public opinion…another issue to address). Let’s call it what it is: sin. God loves sinners and died “while we were yet sinners” (Rom 5:8). Yet, there is condemnation for those who reject Christ and His righteousness (Heb 10:26-21), which is to be our righteousness upon recognition of Him, which is manifested in our living it. Just as surely as there is a Heaven, there is a Hell. Jesus died while we did not love Him, so we are to at least die to our sinful selves AFTER seeing that He loves us. That’s not even noble—to “love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). But this is another discussion, as well.
I have sidetracked slightly in the second half of the above paragraph; coming back to the topic at hand, I want to absolutely tear down and build back up America’s understanding of the word “judge,” the context with which it is used in the Bible, and what is right or wrong for us. We must do one of two things with this concept of judgment: we must either accept that we will use the same word “judge” with separate meanings, or accept that we will no longer use the word “judge” in both contexts, and hereafter refer to eternal condemnation or glorification of a soul by one term, and independently refer to righteous discernment and recognition of both godliness and forbidden behavior by another term.
I believe great men of God have written books or at least articles on this subject, and it might be a good time to seek them out and gear up for this one. It is too common today. Do you know what is equally as appalling to God as hypocritical condemnation of another’s soul to hell? Saying “I don’t judge” and refusing to recognize sin as sin! There is no difference—both bring us far from God!
I noticed something very simple, yet profound last week while reading letters in the Bible from men such as Paul, Peter, and John. I was suddenly floored by not only their boldness of proclaiming God’s goodness, but also their boldness of calling out evil behaviors in specific individuals, whether they were inside or outside the church. These are examples we need today to embolden us to Truth, whether that truth be recognition of Christ or Satan in another.
For a long time, it seems we have rightfully fought the fight of human nature that is errantly displayed through hypocritical condemning of people, wrongfully “judging,” in that there was no love behind it and those “judging” were not worthy of “casting the first stone” (John 7:8), and not only that, they did not know half the story as they thought they did. We have fought that good fight by being ever vigilant against unrighteous, hypocritical judgment—“as we judge, so we also will be judged.”
Matt 7: 1-5 – “"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Weren’t we once so full of sin and seemingly hopeless? Yes we were, and only the supernatural power of Christ has saved us, and His power is offered to all other sinners as well. As long as we recognize that, we can righteously judge, or discern, a lifestyle of sin as sin, being mindful of our own “planks in the eye,” lest we be self-righteous. I think we must simultaneously fight these opposite battlefronts, for “I don’t judge” has become the trendy mindset of the politically correct “Christian” that seems to have swept the nation. It is prevalent in many people I know personally. It is prevalent in mature Christians that I would otherwise look up to. It is even a concept that I myself have started to give way to in my immaturity, but thank God He awakened me to reject it. Again, the preacher’s example of the rider on the horse is so relevant here: God has set us upon a horse that represents His righteousness and the path He desires for us that leads to Him. Satan wants us off that horse, and he doesn’t care if we fall to the right or left. If he pushes us to the right and we recognize it and immaturely lean so far to the other side that we begin to fall to the left, Satan will surely get behind that just as much or more than his original temptation. We must stay on the horse, for “narrow is the gate” that leads to Heaven (Matt 7:13-14). In this case, being unrighteously and hypocritically judgmental leads us to fall off the horse on one side; and selling out to the “I don’t judge” mentality, failing to discern sin as sin, leads us to fall off the horse on the other side. (There is more to this horse example that occurs to me, concerning God’s pace and ours—I think we can fall forward in impatience and backward in lethargy, but that is yet another discussion entirely.)
It is up to us who know and understand these concepts to communicate it to others. We can help open their eyes, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! Some are willing but just unknowing…babes in Christ that only need to hear it out of our mouths, only to have us lead them to the scriptures that they didn’t realize existed or didn’t understand before. Others are more difficult, and God’s work in them is especially powerful, for we could not conceive of how they might be saved. Others know these truths, and will be emboldened by our speaking of the Truth. I think “the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:34-38), so we must take the opportunity to enlighten those whose hearts have been prepared by God to receive these truths. It’s time that we become an emboldened Body of Christ. It’s time to be “as wise as serpents, but gentle as doves” (Matt 10:16).
There is an additional warning that God gave Ezekiel, and I think it applies to us who know God’s truths today:
Ezekiel 2:17-21 - “"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20 "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 21But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself."
Therefore, we must deliver these truths whether they be uplifting or seemingly condemning both to the unrighteous and righteous, firstly so that they might be saved, and secondly so that we might be pleasing to God, innocent of a lost soul who didn’t know Christ because we shut our mouths. Let us give every man every opportunity—let us speak the word of the Lord as often as He provides it to us. If you are reading this today and the scriptures listed above, you have received the Word of the Lord. Amen.
Great post, Will! It does seem as the church and its people have turned away from rebuking because they don't want to be seen as "judgmental". This does no one any favors and is very unbiblical, as you have pointed out.
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