Bad News and Good News about Sexual Sin
I have several friends with children who are “trans-gendering” . Our prayer group has been praying for these people. We pray “with gentleness, that God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25-26
The first chapter of the first book of the Bible tells us: “Then God said, “. . . male and female he created them. God blessed them: God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply” Genesis 1:26-28
Immediately after he made us male and female, he told us to be fruitful and multiply. Our enemy, the god of this world, hates God and hates us. He is going after the first commandment* with a vengeance.
As I pondered the state of the world this morning, and was especially grief stricken about homosexual sin, I had these thoughts:
Here is the bad news and the good news about homosexual sin (or all sin, for that matter): It is sin. God will judge those who sin. “For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23
The Bible specifically calls out homosexual sin in several places. Here is one of them:
“If a man goes to bed with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they must be put to death; their blood is on them.” Leviticus 20:13
The good news is: It is only sin. It is not a character flaw or deformity that cannot be corrected. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
“the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 3:23
Repent, turn away from repeating your sins and you will be forgiven based on the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua (aka Jesus), and escape the second death, the lake of fire.
Jesus said, “Repent. The kingdom of God is at hand.” Matthew 4:17
That is the “The Gospel”. The good news.
Scripture references:
Revelation 20:11-15
“Next I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened; and another book was opened, the Book of Life; and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it; and Death and Sh’ol gave up the dead in them; and they were judged, each according to what he had done. Then Death and Sh’ol were hurled into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was hurled into the lake of fire.“
Exodus 32:33
“The Lord said to Moses “Those who have sinned against me are the ones I will blot out of my book.”“
Revelation 21:27 About the world to come:
“Nothing impure may enter it, nor anyone who does shameful things or lies; the only ones who may enter are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.“
Revelation 21:8
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:10
The apostle John speaking:
“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God…“
Revelation21:22-27
“I saw no Temple in the city, for ADONAI, God of heaven’s armies, is its Temple, as is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.“
Malachi 3:13-18
“You have spoken strongly against me,” says ADONAI.
“Yet you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’
By saying, ‘There is no point in serving God.
What good is it to obey his orders“
Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:21
That’s the good news. All sinners can be made new. Put your trust in the Lord and obey his commandments.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:3-8
*The First Commandment
The first commandment was given to Adam and Eve. “Be fruitful. Multiply”. The Bible has hundreds of commandments that were not written on the tablets of stone–what we know as the Ten Commandments. Those commandments can be considered as a synopsis of what Jesus called the “greatest commandments”.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31
The first five of those ten commandments tells us how to “Love the Lord your God” the second five tell us how to “Love your neighbor.”
Faith Walking 