“The Truth of God and the Lie of Lust”
Last Sunday morning I preached a sermon that in one sense I did not want to preach, and in another was desperate to preach. I did not want to preach on Romans 1:24-27 because of the sensitivity of the subject for many people present, because of the potential implications from out with the church and because it ‘coincided’ with the Church of Scotland Assembly meeting this week and may have come across as just having a go about this one issue.
On the other hand I was desperate to preach it because it is the Word of God – and because so many Christians and others are being misled by the likes of Steve Chalke, Brian McLaren, Vicky Beeching and denominations like the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church. Their great tactic, is the same one the devil used in the garden – it is to sow doubt on the reliability and clarity of the Word of God – ‘did God really say?’. They sow confusion about the Bible, imply that it is not clear, and that it is just a matter of ‘interpretation’. It’s a lie. A lie from the pit. Yes – there are things on which the bible either has nothing to say or it is not clear what is being said. But this issue is not one of them. As I studied this passage it was clear what the plain meaning is. But perhaps there is a deeper meaning? If we read it in the context of the whole bible and culture then perhaps it really does not mean what it appears to mean?
Well after studying this for years – and this particular passage again in detail for this sermon – I came to the conclusion that the Bible is actually very clear in its teaching on sex, sexuality and homosexuality. The trouble for me was not the clarity of the Bible but how did I convey that to people who are submerged in a culture for whom that is absolute anathema? I tried to set it in context, to explain the text and to see who it connects with us as individuals and our culture. I was trying to answer the question – what does Jesus say about sex and sexuality? You can listen to the whole sermon here and judge for yourselves:
As for why I preached on Romans 1:24-27 on this particular Sunday? Because it came after Romans 1:23 – where I had reached in our series on Romans! If all had been as I planned I would have preached this several weeks ago – but as I ended up in hospital things were changed. I regard this as providential. I wish, pray and plead that the C of S commissioners at the Assembly would listen to the Word of God and not, tomorrow (as I suspect they will do), ‘exchange the truth of God for a lie’. Another ‘co-incidence’ is that on this Sunday our SPY youth group was not actually meeting and so the young teenagers were in the service. Now some people might feel a bit uncomfortable that young teenagers were in for a sermon which included clear teaching about sex and sexuality. But we need to realise that our children (even younger than that) have heard a lot more, and worse than that. One of our young people told their mum on the way home ‘David is right, we hear all of that in school’. Who would you rather was doing the teaching of our children and young people?
There was a lot of comment after the service. I hope that what I taught was just what was in the text and what the Bible says applied to our culture. Please feel free to pass it on and share it if you think it would be helpful. I hope it helps give a biblical and compassionate answer to one of the key questions of our culture.
This is the kind of propaganda that our children are being exposed to
As regards providential timing, I have experienced the same feeling. I recently mentioned you by name, and linked to your earlier post “Is gay sex a sin?”, which began, ““It is apparently the burning question of the British General Election.”
The blog post that mentions you is here:
How I came to be the Christian Peoples Alliance candidate for North Cornwall
https://johnallmanuk.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/cpa2017/
I would appreciate your comments on my blog.
Let us pray for one another. (Please support the “uppity young upstart” that I am in spirit, although chronologically I am probably older than you are. Please avoid Judges 8 syndrome.)
With God’s honour at stake, we are not entitled to shut up about what they never shut up about, just because they threaten us. He who is in us, is greater than he that is in the world.
Thank you David for your teachings.
I just listened to you sermon.
You are indeed gifted with a vision of Truth and the gift to be able to share that Truth–
thank you..
Thank you for preaching on this issue David. It’s not every day you hear a pastor or bible teacher trying to tackle this issue without completely discarding the bible. You provided a lot of clarity which I thought was very helpful when I listened to your sermon.
A simple thank you David.
It also struck me when you mentioned Mark 10 that while I’ve always focused on the immediate subject – the man who leaves his father and mother to take his wife; in the background there is the father and mother themselves – that is legitimate marriage and sex right there.
Also regarding your thoughts on why there is no marriage in heaven – something to add to the mix: they is no need for pro-creation, we are born of God.
I’m not sure how you think that is fit to be labelled “propaganda” and what it depicts that is so damaging to children.
Would the leaflets containing verses from the bible which a gentleman standing at the approach to a railway station offers to people passing by also fit the bill of propaganda?
Thank you David,
But this is so easy to refute:
1 Get rid of the revealed nature of the bible, of God revealing himself in and through the bible, it’s inspiration, and authority, written by God.
2 Deny the supreme self revelation of God, in and through His incarnation in God the Son, Jesus Christ, fully God, fully human.
3 Mark 10 can be then easily redacted out out existence, without the need to shred it, physically tear it out. It’s plain meaning can be, with facile, anguished, sincerity, obscured, excessively pixellated out of recognition through liberal theological and cultural “Photoshopped”manipulation.
5 Now we can all join in, be included.
The words recorded in Mark 10, spoken by God, by Jesus are as plain as the nose on my face.
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-real-root-of-sexual-sin
I commented earlier only about the providential timing that had struck you, David.
Now that I have listened to the sermon, I’d like to add my thanks to those of everybody else. I imagine you would consider it to be too much effort, to provide a transcript. If you do produce one, though, please may I have a copy, and permission to publish it?
Yes the Bible when taken in context is very clear on sex. The world has adopted a secular view on sex. As nuclear power is safe and good within a protected environment, so with sex, within marriage. Outside of marriage it is dangerous. have a look at my block http://sexualornot.blogspot.co.za/