The Open Door Church

     In order to understand “How Believers Should Respond to the Sexual Sin in Our Culture,” we must first examine the Bible’s foundational teaching on human sexuality: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NIV).

     Immediately after He created them, God commanded Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28b, NIV).  They obeyed this command by sexual reproduction: “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain” (Genesis 4:1a, NIV).

     This sexual union between Adam and Eve took place within the context of the lifetime commitment called marriage:  “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’…So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.  Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’  That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:18…21-24, NIV).  When God “brought her to the man,” He officiated at the first wedding ceremony!  We don’t know exactly what that ceremony looked like, but we do know that as a result of it they were married—because by the time they had their first sexual union, Eve was Adam’s “wife”—not his fiancé or his girlfriend or his significant other.  She was his “wife!”  Moses wrote, “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain” (Genesis 4:1a, NIV).

     These passages from Genesis form the Bible’s foundational teaching for any discussion about sexual morality, and they clearly outline the Biblical parameters of sexual activity:  Appropriate sexual activity involves one man and one woman within the context of the lifetime commitment of marriage!

     Any alteration of this foundational pattern—sexual activity limited to one man and one woman within the context of the lifetime commitment of marriage—is a distortion of God’s original plan.  It is a violation of God’s will and is, therefore, sin!  So if sexual activity occurs between a man and a woman without the lifetime commitment of marriage—it is either fornication (pre-marital sex) or adultery (extra-marital sex)—and it is sin!  Or if sexual activity occurs between two men or two women, even if there is a lifelong commitment, which our Supreme Court has legalized as “same-sex marriage”, it is still sin…and the US Supreme Court can’t change that fact!

     We are living in a day in American and global history when the vast majority of mankind has turned its back on the Christian Scriptures as the ultimate source of all knowledge and wisdom, as well as the final authority that determines the accuracy of every idea that is presented.  As a result, thousands of new and false ideas are being presented about the most basic subjects—including false ideas about human sexuality.

     These new, non-biblical, often anti-biblical, ideas are instilling confusion into an entire generation.  So today we will begin a little mini-series of sermons about what the Scriptures say about human sexuality.      

     In His description of the creation of the present heavens and earth, God made a very clear and enlightening statement about human sexuality.  He inspired Moses to write, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NIV).

     It is beyond doubt that God was referring to the fact that He created humans with only two very specific genders, when He inspired Moses to write, “Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27b, NIV).  Every human being is either “male” or “female.”

     God determines the gender of each human being by placing either an X chromosome or a Y chromosome in just the right place in their DNA chain.  The placement of an X chromosome produces a female human, and the placement of a Y chromosome produces a male human.  That is, in part, what Moses was describing when he wrote, “Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27b, NIV).  Gender is not an identity chosen by an individual.  Gender is a biological fact intentionally designed by God.

     The idea that God made a mistake when he created an individual as male when he should have been female, or female when she should have been male, is nothing more than a lie from the Devil.  Referring to the Devil, Jesus said, “There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44b, NIV).

     An increasing number of people in today’s American culture are convinced that identifying people as a specific gender based on their physical biology is a bad thing.  However, when God saw all that He had created—including the creation of humans as “male and female”—He concluded, “It was very good” (Genesis 1:31b, NIV).

     Are you a “male?”  Then your masculinity is “very good!”  Are you a “female?”  Then your femininity is “very good!”

     On January 22, 1973 the US Supreme Court handed down the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, legalizing abortion on demand in all fifty states of the United States of America.  Since that day more than more than 60 million helpless little American babies have perished at the hands of abortionists who call themselves doctors!

     On January 22, 2019, the forty-sixth anniversary of the passage of Roe v. Wade, New York’s legislature passed and Governor Cuomo signed the “Reproductive Health Act”.  The bill contains a “health of the mother” clause permitting abortion after 24 weeks which could easily be interpreted by liberal judges to allow abortion up till birth for any reason—not only physical health, but also mental health, financial health, occupational health, social health, relational health, etc.  The Democrats who control both houses of the New York state legislature know this, because it has been repeatedly done by liberal judges in the past. 

     During the 1960s and 70s the pro-abortion movement was fueled by the lie that a fetus is just a mass of tissue and can be removed and discarded at the discretion of a woman and her doctor just like infected tonsils or an infected appendix.  However, advances in medical technology have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that from the moment of conception the fetus is “human” and that it is “alive.”

     As a result, many in today’s pro-abortion movement concede that the fetus is “human” and that it is “alive,” but they deny that it has what they call “personhood” which they define as “a human that is breathing.”  Obviously, they reason, humans begin to breathe at birth.  Therefore, “personhood” begins at birth.  Hence, their belief that it is appropriate to terminate the life of a “non-person” up to the moment of birth. 

     They further reason that since the unborn are not “persons”—that is, they don’t possess “personhood”—they have no legal rights, like the right to life guaranteed to all American citizens by the US Constitution.  That, my friends, is exactly the line of reasoning that resulted in the passage of New York’s “Reproductive Health Act.” 

     However, God inspired King David to write a line in one of his Psalms that dates his “sinfulness”—a quality uniquely applied to “persons” throughout Scripture—all the way back to the moment his mother conceived him.  He wrote, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5, NIV).  The implication is that “personhood” with its accompanying legal rights begins at conception—not at birth.

     God made the fact of the “personhood” of the unborn clear when He inspired Moses to include an example of case law in the Old Testament.  Moses wrote, “Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely.  If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve.  But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise” (Exodus 21:22-25, NLT).  This example of Old Testament case law clearly reveals that God considers the unborn to be “persons” with legal rights in the form of legal protection!  In fact, God considers the termination of the life of an unborn “person” a capital crime.  He demanded “a life for a life.”  Obviously, from God’s perspective, human life is sacred!

     We live in an age when we are swimming in a sea of information.  From the news media to cell phones to internet access, we are bombarded with more information than we can possibly process.  On the internet alone we are confronted with Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs, news feeds, emails, and never-ending spam, not to mention our compulsion to Google any topic that crosses our mind.  This reminds me of what the angel said to Daniel about “the time of the end.” He said, “Seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4b, NLT).

     Most of the information we encounter is intended to impact our view of truth—what we believe about life, religion, relationships, needs, wants, politics, economics, etc.  Its purpose is to reshape your current view of truth into a view that someone else is promoting. This reshaping may be good or bad depending upon whether your revised belief system is true or false.  Paul wrote, “We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (Ephesians 4:14b, NLT).

     We often encounter the same struggle Governor Pilate faced.  John recorded Pilate’s struggle with recognizing truth when he wrote, “Jesus answered…‘The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’  ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate” (John 18:37a…37c-38a, NIV).

     A popular response to today’s flood of information with its “competing truth claims” is to retreat into what is often called a postmodern belief system, which says that I can create my own personal truth that works best for me while affirming that others may need to create a different personal truth that works best for them.  At that point “truth” becomes negotiable and always subject to change.  It is no longer absolute!  In fact, it is no longer “truth.”

     However, as Bible-believing Christians, we know that there is absolute truth. I may not have full awareness of it.  I may not fully understand it.  However, it does exist regardless of my lack of knowledge or understanding.  Absolute truth is reality as seen from God’s perspective, visibly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, and recorded in the Bible.  Jesus said, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth” (John 18:37b, NIV).  The fact that Jesus used the phrase “the truth” means that “truth” is not negotiable.  It is not subject to change.  It is absolute.  It is fixed.  It is not “a truth.”  It is “the truth.”

     The Bible instructs Christians to avoid being “tossed and blown about” by information that contradicts “the truth.”  In fact, when the spiritual leaders of the church are doing their job effectively, believers won’t be “tossed and blown about” by false information. Paul wrote, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ…Then we will no longer be immature like children.  We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.  We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  Instead, we will speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:11-12…14-15a, NLT).

     If we are required to “speak the truth in love” then God must have provided a means by which we can differentiate between what is truth and what is false—and He has!

     The Bible reveals that His guidelines for spending include:  Tithes, Taxes, Basic Needs, Debt Repayment, Inheritance, and Surplus.  In the previous lesson we briefly examined what the Bible says about the first three—Tithes, Taxes, and Basic Needs.  During this sermon we will explore what God says about Debt Repayment, Inheritance, and Surplus.

     Jesus told a story to teach His disciples about His kingdom that is commonly called “The Parable of the Talents,” and in this story He clearly taught that everything “his servants” possess is actually “his property” that has been “entrusted” to them.  He began the story with these words, “It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them” (Matthew 25:14, NIV).  This fact obviously places Him in the position to establish guidelines regulating how His servants spend His money.

     The Bible reveals that God’s guidelines for spending His money include:  Tithes, Taxes, Basic Needs, Debt Repayment, Inheritance, and Surplus.  In this lesson we will briefly examine what the Bible says about the first three—Tithes, Taxes, and Basic Needs.  Next week we will explore what God says about Debt Repayment, Inheritance, and Surplus.